The Market On Tuesday

Good morning. It is 55 degrees and sunny here in Upstate NY. In my town people are still working with the after effects of Irene. People are dragging broken tree limbs and chain sawed up tree parts to the curb. The village crew has plenty of work to do. Three blocks over from my place, a large maple tree fell perfectly perpendicular to the road and in so doing completely took out the power lines. We are into day four without power here.

At 8:30 a.m. futures are moderately down, the dollar is mixed, and oil is down.

Investors will be looking at numbers on consumer confidence today. Its a big deal. Our economy is driven by people buying stuff, so how fluidly people go about buying AKA consuming is telling.

The real problem is that our economy is based on the idea that consuming must keep growing and that growth is the only metric that is of importance. That is obviously not a sustainable system. Somewhere along the line, when the system breaks down so badly that it is not repairable, then bright minds have to come with up a plan. Meanwhile the rest of us will be foraging around like tribal times. Until that happens we will see repeats of the 2008 - 2009 collapse, over and over. This is followed by propping up these collapses, as in 2010. Capitalism has its drawbacks. Growth cannot continue indefinitely.

CNN: Stocks: Investors step back

Much of the weakness has be fueled by fears that the U.S. economy could tip back into a recession.


After the opening bell, a report from the Conference Board is expected to show a drop in consumer confidence.


At 2 p.m. ET, the Federal Reserve will release minutes from it Aug. 9 meeting.


Oil for October delivery slipped 45 cents to $86.82 a barrel.