We're having a pretty good time economically, and what that's saying is the consumer is alive and kicking. Retail is a huge factor in our economy.

These businesses will go from being great to being pretty good and expectations are being dashed. This is a very tough time for people in the investment business to make returns.

Clearly, the signal event of the day was the explosion in Saudi Arabia, which provided some excitement in energy. But we're clearly in a place where people don't want to own the wrong stuff over the weekend. Everybody's sort of meandering along.

A couple things this morning are being driven exclusively by the option expiration tomorrow. It's just a fact of life that you get some abnormal activity in the week before, and certainly the week of, the option expiration.

Texas Instruments is hitting a new high and that's always encouraging. There are these points of light that are stimulating interest in technology, and it's a developing trend that's positive.

When the market is uncertain, it either drifts or goes down. Looking at the economic figures that we're seeing, it tells you that inflation is coming. I suspect the Federal Reserve will keep beating on it gradually.