Daily Insights

Trade pessimism. U.S. stocks are lower this morning on speculation that China may be increasingly reluctant to strike a trade deal. High-level talks between the United States and China are still scheduled to kick off later this week, but reports indicate that Chinese officials have narrowed the scope of topics they’re willing to negotiate on during these discussions. Even though we don’t expect resolution in this particular round of talks, the meeting may serve as a precursor for some thawing at the important Asia-Pacific Economic Conference in November.

Chugging along. On Friday, the September jobs report showed job growth keeps chugging along, despite signs of weakness in other pockets of the U.S. economy. The average payrolls gain climbed to 179,000 over the past 12 months, which is slightly higher than the expansion average. Check out our LPL Research blog post on September jobs data for more details.

Policy tug-of-war.  Investors are facing a host of unresolved international and domestic issues, including an upcoming presidential election, all of which are contributing to an overall sense of uncertainty. LPL Research provides insights on policy and the markets in this week’s Weekly Market Commentary: Policy Uncertainty Intensifies.

October tricks. October lived up to its reputation as a volatile month in its first week. LPL Research reviews market movements and the major equity, fixed income, currency, and commodity indexes in the Weekly Market Performance: Scary Start to October.

The week ahead. Economic data flow is fairly light this week. Investors will get more clues on the state of inflation in the Producer Price Index report (released on Tuesday), the Consumer Price Index report (released on Thursday), and import/export price data (released on Friday). Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s most recent policy meeting will also be released Wednesday afternoon.

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