Jamie Dlugosch

2008 Be Gone, We're Ready to Rock and Roll

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Despite poor manufacturing data, oil was pressured by a dispute between Russia and Ukraine. Turmoil in Gaza continued on Friday as well. It was enough to get the market to ignore the slumping demand picture.

I maintain my position that big production cuts are still necessary to support a rally in oil. If OPEC steps up to the plate $100 oil is back in play. Oil stocks obviously benefited from the move in crude and will do so in the future if oil prices move higher. Crude is flat this morning holding above $46.

The first full week of trading is off to a good start around the globe. Asian stocks were mostly higher with Japan gaining 2.1% in a half day of trading. Hong Kong and Shanghai gained more than 3% and Singapore moved higher by more than 4%. European stocks opened mixed this morning. Britain was up fractionally as France and Germany were down slightly.

Stock futures in the U.S. are pointing to a lower open. We can expect a bit of profit taking after the big gains of the last few days of trading.

We will see plenty of economic data and with Obama now in Washington we will be hearing more about spending and tax cut plans from the new administration.

Dow futures are down 50 points at the moment. I expect another sluggish start to the day, but look for more investors to dip their toes in the water. That said, economic data is likely to be quite negative so it will be an interesting tug of war this week.