1/3/2007 Morning Market Comment

Will it be a case of what sizzles fizzles? Sure, it's all well and good that The Street is cheering a 1.6% gain in comps at Wal-Mart, or that Bob Nardelli has been shown the big sliding door at Home Depot, but let's face it - a 1.6% rise in same store sales stinks especially compared to a competitor like Target and over the long term they've got their work cut out for them fixing Home Depot. And let's throw in the ADP employment report... a contraction of 40 thousand in December has bonds surging and the pundits on Wall Street excited that the Fed will be forced to lower rates sooner rather than later. But again, the Fed scrambling to come to the economy's rescue is bound to send bearish overtones back into the market at some point. For now Dow futures are pointing sharply higher, with a gain of 70 big ones. That's my initial bad-cold delayed take. more a little later.