The Market On Thursday

  Good morning. It is 40 degrees and it looks like the cloud coverage might be lifting for some sunshine here in the Upper Hudson Valley. The snow storm of a few days ago is a thing of the past as roughly 60% of the snow coverage is gone and the grass re-emerges on lawns. Today is the big day, it's a day of celebration as we welcome in the new year. What a year 2015has been too, in spite of a great deal of human caused mischief, our world keeps ticking along in one amazing piece.

  At 9:00 a.m. ET futures are down and the price of oil per barrel is down. The market is poised to open lower.

  The year is ending on a trading whimper. Oil remains the central story in my opinion. You know we are entering a new year and our eyes are wide open, who knows what's ahead. One year from now we know who will be our next president and hopefully sane minds will prevail in that election. Unfortunately we will have to endure the process that leads up to the decision, and so far that has been a bust.

Reuters: Stock futures little changed on last trading day of 2015

Crude oil prices were set for their second year of steep losses suffering under an unprecedented global glut that may take another year to clear.

Trading volumes are expected to be thin for the day, and data points sparse, with traders closing off positions for 2015.