Wall St slides, S&P 500 posts worst month, quarter since COVID outbreak

Okay, it was another big bath today as the markets were once again wracked by inflation fears and the budget wrangling in Washington. Since it was announced late yesterday that the Congress had reached a stopgap agreement to keep the government open until December, I expected a rally today. Not only did that not happen but, even after the bill was passed late this afternoon, the indexes only momentarily rallied before diving again, as we end the month with the worst numbers since early 2020 when the pandemic first hit. 

S&P 500, Dow gain amid inflation concerns, debt ceiling debate

The market came back a bit today with Fed Chair Powell commenting on continuing inflation. Yesterday, inflation spooked the market, but today taken as reassurance against too soon tapering. But the real issue keeping the market down is the debt ceiling debate going on in Congress as a shutdown looms on Friday unless there’s an agreement by then. A potential U.S. credit default is a scenario the markets don’t even want to think about.  With nerves fraying, volume remains above average at 11.4 billion. 

Wall Street swoons on rising Treasury yields, growing inflation worries

The indexes all took another real bath today. The markets are so funny, but I guess that’s what makes all this so interesting.  Just yesterday investors rallied over rising Treasury yields since they signaled confidence in the recovering economy.  Today those same rising yields sent everyone to the exits due to heightened inflation worries that are seen to hurt the big tech companies.  And tech took a huge hit today; in fact all the indexes dipped 2% or more with the Nasdaq heading for its biggest monthly decline in a year. 

Tech pulls Nasdaq, S&P 500 down as Treasury yields rise

Tech took another hit but cyclicals got a boost with the Dow up 71 points on the positive data of Treasury yields rising, indicating investor confidence in the recovery, and new orders for durable goods rising to a pre-pandemic seven-year high, again punctuating optimism in the recovery. The tech market leaders Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Apple all took a hit. The S&P value index has been struggling against the tech index all year but has narrowed the gap this month as it continues to grow but may soon be snapping seven months of gains. Volume was a little above average at 10.3 billion. 

Best Stock Research Websites 2021

Every now and then I stumble upon an article that just contains some good old-fashioned useful information and this week that information came from a financial service called Gorilla Trades which published this article rating and evaluating the best stock research sites.  

Financial Risk Management 101

An investor can never get too much of an education on risk management and this week's WealthTrack program on PBS tackles this critical subject with a primer presented by Rick Bookstaber, one of Wall Street's top risk officers, having been the Top Gun for the University of California's huge network of pension and endowment funds as well as behemoths like Morgan Stanley and Salomon Brothers. It should be a terrific 24 minute review.  Enjoy the weekend.  

Wall St near even, dragged by Nike 6% drop after warning

After two days of intense rallies the markets took a breath today and traded near break-even.  The sentiment seems to be that there is “a pronounced trend toward recovery in the market” and as today’s expert put it, “There’s plenty of things to worry about but, bottom line, short-term rates make putting your money in cash unattractive, and bonds seem riskier at these levels than stocks.” Evergrande missed its interest payment deadline but the markets seem to be shrugging this off now.  Volume remains below average at 9.0 billion.