Friends
We just finished trading for the month of September and the third quarter. Wow! What the heck happened? September is traditionally a difficult month for the market, but holding true to form everything seems to be somewhat backward since late 2008. Since the Spring, we have gone from a good month to a bad month. I hope that pattern doesn’t hold or we are in for a scary October (and I don’t mean “trick or treat”). Though not official, the Dow was up about 7.75% for September and the S&P was up about 8.85%( the best September in about 70 years). For the quarter both indices were up over 10%. So much for uninspiring economic news.
This morning started out with a bang as the market climbed over 100 points and the Dow was peeking at the 11,000 level. The early advance was driven by a slightly better revised GDP number and a small improvement in the weekly jobless claims. But by mid-morning we gave up all the gains and fell into negative territory where we stayed the rest of the day ending down about 47 points on the Dow. We will see what the ISM number looks like in the morning, and how the market begins October and the fourth quarter. I’ll check in with you in the morning and we’ll take a look at what is ahead for the rest of the year.
Have a nice evening.
