Onward And......

Well after what seemed like and eternity, August is finally in the books.  Equity markets, in particular, are glad to see the month come to an end as the S&P 500 saw a drop of about 4.75%.  Not exactly the kind of performance that instills confidence among investors.  However, fixed income-focused investor may look back on August 2010 as one for the record books.  During that time, the 10-year Treasury note saw its yield drop 43 basis points to approximately 2.48% while the 30-year yield moved down 45 basis points to 3.53%.  Truly a remarkable one-month rally.  And despite a steady, almost stealth-like move higher during August, gold managed to finish the month up about 5.6% with only a few down days along the way.  An astonishing run to say the least.  All in all, August proved to be the month where the jubilation of robust second quarter earnings was outmatched by the economic concerns that raise concerns about second half growth, both domestically and globally.  And with September normally looked to as a sour month for equities, I think it's fair to say that the likelihood of this trend continuing is quite probable.

A short post tonight as, again, the market has us all waiting to see what's going to happen once next week is upon us.  Tomorrow will again likely be a doing nothing type day, so I'd be wary of reading to much into any of the price action that materializes.  While there is a fair bit of economic data slated for tomorrow (ADP payroll data, crude inventories, ISM Index), odds are that collectively they will tell us little that we don't already know.  Until these markets find some sort of catalyst, things will continue to be lackluster.  Until tomorrow.....