I hope everyone had a great weekend! It’s rivalry week here in Michigan with the Spartans hosting the Wolverines this Saturday night. Should be a fun one!
Markets opened higher today coming off a positive week that was full of headlines. Trade rhetoric between the US and China has gone back and forth with tensions appearing to cool a bit of late. Rare earths, fentanyl, and soybeans are key issues with a possible meeting between Trump and Xi on the horizon. I think there is too much interconnectedness, especially with AI technology (think NVDA), for the two nations not to reach an agreement. Stateside, the White House Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett noted this morning that the government shutdown is “likely to end something this week.” September’s CPI report that was delayed earlier this month is now set to be released this Friday. Should the government shutdown end, simply having clarity around some more of these key economic reports, should benefit the market. The way I see the overall set-up is we will likely have a 0.25% rate cut on October 29th and another on December 10th. There is some ~$7T in money markets that could start migrating towards more risk assets as rates continue to come down. Q3 earnings look good though it’s early and we will have to see how this develops over the next couple weeks. I continue to like owning strong balance sheet companies as we navigate some of these near-term uncertainties. Please reach out should you wish to discuss further.
Attached, please find this week’s Market Strategy Radar Screen Report from John Stoltzfus, Chief Investment Strategist of Oppenheimer Asset Management.
Have a great week!