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Global Equities:

Stocks rallied but faded late in the week on Friday when $4 Trillion in options expired. Also weighing on stocks was news of striking autoworkers and more government dysfunction as the national debt is once again being held hostage.

On September 15, more than 12,000 autoworkers from the United Autoworkers Union (UAW) walked off the job as contract negotiations with Ford, GM, and Jeep-maker Stellantis have yet to produce a new contract for the 146,000 active union members at the three companies.

“It has been said, ‘time heals all wounds.’ I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.”
– ROSE FITZGERALD KENNEDY –

September 8, 2023 The Fed has hiked rates eleven times since March 2022. The driving force behind the market’s ups and downs since then has been Federal Reserve policy and inflation data, with corporate earnings yielding center stage. The focus on macroeconomic data and central bank policy was warranted coming off an unprecedented global shutdown…

“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”
– MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. –

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City will hold its 46th annual Economic Policy Symposium this week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Up until the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation reading, the Fed had been on quite a winning streak. Annualized CPI had declined for 12 consecutive monthly readings, evidence that while prices for goods and services were still increasing, the pace of price inflation was moderating and moving back towards the Fed’s 2% target.

1099-DIV – Reports ordinary and qualified dividends and short- and long-term capital gains distributions for taxable and tax-exempt accounts. 1099-B – Reports exchange and redemption activity in non-IRA accounts.

“The rating downgrade of the United States reflects the expected fiscal deterioration over the next three years, a high and growing general government debt burden, and the erosion of governance relative to ‘AA’ and ‘AAA’ rated peers over the last two decades that has manifested in repeated debt limit standoffs and last-minute resolutions.”

By Dr. George Calhoun – Hanlon Investment Management Advisory Board Member Executive Director of the Hanlon Financial Systems Center