Wall St. ends flat as media stocks slump, healthcare gains

Today was a return to business as usual with the market being less concerned about Korea and hurricanes and more about industry as the Dow swung in a hundred point range over slumps from both Disney and Comcast.  On the positive side of the ledger was healthcare, strong earnings growth and solid economic data.  In the end, the two sides balanced with a mere 22 point loss on the index.  For the third day, trading is closer to normal averages with 6.4 billion shares.

Energy shares lead broad rebound on Wall Stree

A day of panic followed by a day of bargain shopping with the Dow shooting up right out the gate and staying that way all day to close 54 up.  Part of the boost came from the easy deal Democrats reached with Trump today to pass an extension on the debt limit.  That’s one problem that was on everyone’s worry list yesterday that got checked off the list today already.  Much of the rest was the reopening of the Gulf coast refineries in the wake of Harvey providing an immediate spike to oil prices.  Despite many troubling issues, fundamentals are still saving the day and preventing a breakdown of the market.  For the second day volume was higher than recent averages (and closer to normal averages) at 6.3 billion shares.

Fresh North Korea tensions hit Wall Street

Being that it was a relatively non-news day with no major positive developments on which to focus, all eyes turned to North Korea, as they always do on the non-news days.  Their test of a hydrogen bomb sent the Dow down, straight down, all day long to close off 234 points.  There were of course a few other more minor reasons to be gloomy.  September is historically a bad month for the market and this particular September is shadowed by the threats of a budget showdown in D.C. and the federal debt ceiling.  Trading has been light for the past four weeks, but not today, when 6.7 billion shares changed hands.

Succinct Summation of Weeks Events 9.1.17 (plus How Work has Changed)

Concluding this Labor Day is once again the offer of the weekly summation.  Among the positives are Q2 GDP and ADP employment getting a substantial boost.  The more prominent negatives include nonfarm payrolls coming in way below expectations.  The bonus this Labor Day is a look at the changing intensity in the workplace, that in the last 44 years more than 4 times the percentage workers are now working considerably more than a 40 hour week, up to 26% in 2016 from 6% in 1973.  More Americans are working harder for fewer benefits.  How long can this be sustained?  Hope everyone had a great holiday.

One Of The Best Ways to Manage Risk Is...

Last week, Heritage Capital Research posted on their web site a short course on managed risk investing.  It is a fairly short read and a very good summation.  That is your bonus on this Labor Day Sunday.  The weekly summation will be published tomorrow night at the end of this 3-day holiday weekend.  Enjoy Labor Day!

Equity Factor-Based Investing: A Practitioners Guide

For your weekend reading this Labor Day holiday, there is a special treat, a 24 page manual on a new strategy called Equity Factor-Based Investing.  It must be pretty special because the web page it came from is designed so that it cannot be reproduced, as I will note below.  It certainly is worth a look and, if it's as special as it appears, I will read it and make a presentation on it at a future meeting.  Enjoy the holiday.

Wall Street edges up as rate-hike bets in check after jobs data

This was once again the odd case that can only happen on Wall Street where bad news is taken as good news with the jobs report coming in below expectations.  But this was greeted as a positive since fewer jobs means the Fed might not raise rates again this year after all.  But rate stress relief was not the only good news that shot the Dow up 39 points.  There was also factory activity at its highest since 2011 and various other economic indicators supporting further growth.  One of the negatives was a fall in construction spending but we can bet that with the Harvey rebuilding that will reverse itself quite quickly.  This is the second week that all the indexes registered gains.  As it has been for the past month, volume remains light at 5.1 billion.