The Strength of the Market is: Strong

Stocks rose last week, despite flaring tensions between the U.S. and China, fear from regional bank losses and the continued shutdown of the U.S. Government. Although, the anticipation of another 0.25% interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve on October 29th has helped calm some of the various market risks. More ups and downs in the stock market should be expected. Despite the recent volatility, stocks finished last week higher - the S&P 500 rose 1.7%, the Dow Jones added 1.6% and the Nasdaq gained 2.1% for the week.

Economic reports from last week came back mixed:

•Small Business Optimism - lower than expectation

•Manufacturing (New York) - higher than expectation

•Manufacturing (Philadelphia) - lower than expectation

•Homebuilder Sentiment - higher than expectation

•Inflation (Consumer) - unreported*

•Inflation (Producer) - unreported*

•Retail Sales - unreported*

•New Residential Construction - unreported*

•Jobless Claims - unreported*

*unreported due to government shutdown

This week, investors will look for guidance from economic reports like Housing, Manufacturing, Consumer Sentiment and Jobless Claims.