The Market On Thursday

  Good morning. It is 72 degrees and cloudy here in the Upper Hudson Valley, the forecast predicts a cloudy day with scattered thunderstorms and temperatures in the 80s this afternoon. The big news surrounds Trump's 'softening' of his slash and burn immigration policy and how the alt-right is freaking out about the 'softening'. Trump is attempting to pivot once again, and this time to a more moderate position thereby hoping to attract more voters. It's all rather clumsy and ill conceived - I wish him the worst.

  At 9:00 a.m. ET futures are moderately lower and the price of oil per barrel is down now below $47. The market is poised to open lower.

  First time weekly layoff numbers continue to come in strong and fly in the face of the GOP's assertion that the economy and sky are falling. Janet Yellen is back in the news as investors await her latest thoughts on the base interest rate.

CNN: Stocks: 4 things to know before the open by Alanna Petroff

Investors are on tenterhooks ahead of the annual gathering of Federal Reserve members and other central bankers at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in Wyoming, which gets underway today.

CNBC: US weekly jobless claims total 261,000 vs 265,000 estimate

Claims have now been below 300,000, a threshold associated with a strong labor market, for 77 straight weeks. That is the longest such stretch since 1973, when the labor market was much smaller.