The Market On Friday

Good morning. I remembered to wear the face mask this morning during my walk. It is cold. I think we are still in that adjustment phase, the body wants it to be Summertime.

At 8:30 a.m. futures are slightly higher, the dollar is down, and oil is up. One would think this is the perfect trifecta for a day of gains, but the market has been resistant lately.

Notice that 13 million packages of Rolaids have been recalled with complaints of the tablets being tainted with wood and metal. Talk about indigestion and heartburn, eeks.

The investment journalists are talking two points this morning. The first is investor concerns over China's attempt to reel in inflationary bank practices. Money is cheap in China. Their government is responding by raising liquidity requirements within banks. The second issue is investor concern over the Bush tax cuts and where that is going. What will the next compromise look like? I would suspect they raise the threshold where the cuts are cut off at $1,000,000 or $2,000,000 instead of $250,000.

CNN: Stocks set to open slightly higher

..."we will continue to move sideways to upwards, which is good..."


...China attempts to put a damper on what "runaway lending amid accelerating inflation."


Johnson & Johnson's McNeil division late Thursday announced a recall of more than 13 million packages of various Rolaids medicines following consumer complaints of foreign materials, including metal and wood particles.