The Market On Friday

Good morning and welcome to the weekend. It is 41 degrees, sunny, and windy here in Upstate NY. I can't say it enough, I look forward to hot weather, there's still a chill in the air. Regardless, another week has literally flown by, they keep going by faster and faster. Gulp! Anyhow, a friend is lending us a rototiller this weekend provided it does not rain. The mantra is - must make garden.

At 8:15 a.m. futures are flat, the dollar is down against major world currencies, and the price of oil is slightly down per barrel. The market is poised to open in the flat and mixed range except...

At 8:30 a.m. the government releases its first reading of the first quarter GDP - end of story. The number will set a very strong tone. As the number will be revealed in 15 minutes from when I write this, let's hang on and see what happens.

CNN: Stocks consider Ford and Spain, await U.S. GDP

...Ford beat earnings expectations for the quarter.


...the U.S. government's report on first-quarter gross domestic product growth -- the broadest measure of the nation's economic health.


...S&P announced that it was downgrading Spain's credit rating from "A" to "BBB+"...