The Market On Thursday

  Good morning. It is 48 degrees and rainy here in the Upper Hudson Valley. We are expecting more rain today and temperatures in the 50s. The weather logos are still indicating another warming trend right up to and around Christmas Day. Lots of news this morning with Big Pharma Bro being indicted by the Feds; the Knicks pulled off a victory over the Timberwolves with Porzingis blocking 7 shots - 7 count em; and still all kinds of fallout around the alleged debate. I say alleged because histrionic posturing is not really debating now is it. Then we have Obama ready to do some sort of executive order on guns. It's a juicy day.

  At 9:00 a.m. ET futures are moderately higher and the price of oil per barrel is around $35. The market is poised to open higher.

  World markets appear to be bolstered by strong words from Fed Chair Janet Yellen. The base interest rate was tweaked very slightly higher and that in her words indicates that the fundamentals of the US economy are improved over the Bush The Lesser Recession of 2008. Weekly first time layoff numbers came in at 271,000 and that is a strong number except for those of course who were laid off.

CNN: Stocks: 5 things to know before the open

Fed chair Janet Yellen said she feels "confident about the fundamentals driving the U.S. economy." And that helped give investors confidence to drive global stock markets higher.