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Lots going on to end the week. First, how could I ignore the media’s blame for the big down opening on Tuesday? Remember how every down day in Q1 and early Q2 was because of the prospect of tariffs? And how they would wreck the economy and usher in a new wave of inflation? Yeah. They clearly forgot because all I heard was that stocks were falling because the courts struck down some tariffs and the U.S. needs that revenue. Nothing about a better economy or lower inflation. This just epitomizes why most of what you see in the media is plain garbage. It’s spins and narratives.

Today the government released the August jobs numbers. As I mentioned last month, I have full faith in the data released that it’s not being politically manipulated. Accurate is a different story. It’s not. The BLS needs a total data collection overhaul costing billions of dollars. Congress has refused to spend the money for many years. The BLS still relies on phone calls to landlines. And then revises the data months later. The U.S. can and should do better.

Today’s report was weaker than it’s been. 22,000 new jobs versus 75,000 expected. Government was the largest culprit, losing 15,000 jobs. The unemployment rate ticked up 0.1%. This continues a trend I began writing about last year where the employment market would weaken but not become weak.

And with Fed Chair Jay Powell’s speech from Jackson Hole and this new data, a rate cut in September is all but guaranteed. Some folks are floating trial balloons about a 0.50% cut. I think that’s a stretch and one I would not support. I pounded the table for a rate cut in March, skipping May and then another one in June. I believe that would have helped mitigate some of the job weakness.

Markets were approaching new highs heading into the release and began spiking higher after the release. This is not a spike I would buy. Rather, I think pruning some holdings might be in order.

On Wednesday we bought more PCY and EMB. On Thursday we bought more CF, more GWRE,more GO and more CALF. We sold CELH, LYFT and some QLD.

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