U.S. stocks slip while yields rise, Fed in focus

You would have thought that today’s tentative agreement to settle the much-feared rail strike would have caused a significant rally.  Instead, it was a choppy day as the Dow seesawed back and forth twice between about 150 up and 250 down before closing at 173 down. It was another day where good news was taken as bad as a slew of positive economic reports showing retail sales up, car sales up, unemployment down were just another nail in the rate increase coffin.  

Wall St staggers to higher close as Fed rate hike looms

It was another volatile day with the Dow swinging back and forth between nearly 200 up and 200 down.  It was the PPI report that provided some assurances that inflation wasn’t as bad as yesterday’s news with results coming in close to estimates that brought the indexes back and modestly in the black by close.  Though we are still a long ways from the Fed’s 2% inflation target, progress is being made and the market now seems a little comfortable with letting the Fed do whatever is necessary to make the target. The sticking point now is the impending rail strike but, with the midterms coming up, investors are optimistic that the White House will find a way to keep the rails open.  Volume was a tad above average at 10.9 billion. 

Wall St tumbles to biggest loss in two years following CPI data

The CPI report was not as expected.  As of yesterday, the consensus was that the report would show an inflation rate a good 0.4% lower than July. Instead it came in a whopping 0.4% higher than July which sent the whole market spiraling dramatically downward from the open, the Dow starting at an already staggering nearly 400 down and it just kept steadily going down from there to close nearly 1300 down.  The Nasdaq and S&P suffered similar percentage losses.  

Wall Street posts fourth straight day of gains ahead of CPI report

The rally that started last week continues with investors evidently confident that there will be positive news in the CPI report to be released Tuesday morning and expected to show a bit of a decrease in inflation. Even though it’s a small decrease, it’s heading in the right direction and that has switched market appetite to “risk on.” There is now a 92% forecast for a ¾ point rate hike in October and is now considered fully priced in so there will be no more panic selling when it happens so long as data continues to show a steadily declining inflation. The “risk on” was evident in the fact that the economically sensitive stocks outperformed the broader market. Volume was below average at 9.6 billion. 

6 Best Monthly Dividend Stocks to Buy Now

For those of you interested in investing for income:  

How to Buy, Sell and Store Cryptocurrency

For those of you who want to know more about cryptocurrency ... courtesy of AAII.  

Wall Street scores first weekly gain since mid-August

Suppose the best summary of today’s market action is from today’s expert, “It’s not surprising we get a little bit of a bounce, as a lot of this is technical.”  Translation: the technicals are sound, the sell off was emotional and overdone. So today we saw investors continuing to snap up bargains, especially in the tech sector which has been suffering the most, all three indexes on a steady boost all day, the Nasdaq up 250, the Dow 377. The widely expected ¾ point rate hike coming later this month is not even a subject of concern today though the forecast is now at 90% vs just 57% a week ago.