Resilient but not overheating sort of describes the market here. Certainly, might have difficulties ahead of the holiday weekend, but the Jobs report's on Friday, which could trigger alternative reacting S&P maneuvers on that. 

Freepik

We'll not make too much of the story reporting the Justice Dept. looking at Tesla's purchase of a house in Austin for Elon Musk, but it weighs a bit on the S&P (you may recall I criticized putting TSLA in the Index to start with).

Personally, I don't find it really horrendous to build a home for the company's CEO, who probably will argue a majority of his thinking and even design work occurs there...I'm sure there's nothing political involved in any of this...by the way the other big influence on the S&P is Apple (AAPL), and it managed to come up and fill the gap, just as I wanted it to in-order for S&P to levitate this week.

It would be incredible if the market held-up in September and October, history is not on the side of strength and since the market adheres in the big-caps at least a bit, there is a wide range of potential behavior outcomes. There's also a realization that when the 1st half of the year did what it did, the 2nd is o.k.

'Tech' remains key to the month ahead, perhaps Banks thereafter, with some concerns about regional banks again. Oils should remain firm and that helps. We predicted the recession correctly...gee...two years ago and the recovery as of last October. So, a double-dip is always possible, and given profligate (well I was being nice...I didn't say insane) fiscal & monetary policies, having what is already a 'credit crunch' become a 'credit crisis', would surely trigger a bad fall but that's a cautionary comment, not a suggestion to run for the hills.

'Market X-ray': 

Terrific behavior for several fairly speculative or erratic stocks, and we welcome that. Yesterday H.C. Wainwright (an investment banker that probably works with them), initiated coverage of BigBear.ai (BBAI) (with a $4 target which I think is achievable, or more if they land a major Government contract again). Also deals with SoundHound (SOUN) helped its breakout (that was ChowNow and SnapChat's SnapChatter), while favored AEHR just helps itself soaring. 

In the case of AEHR, I can't pinpoint any deal pending, but interpolate hints in my scans of 'trade' publications (not the market, electrical engineering or such journals) as suggesting advances not only with Silicon Carbide, but photonics, as both areas are not only projected by AEHR to grow but focus test areas.

Now an interesting question: later, could Quantum Computing Inc. (QUBT) be waiting in the wings to emerge and fly a bit? No idea but holding a bit as a 'back-burner' speculation among sprinkled stocks. Of the 'sprinkles', probably BigBear will be the first with chances to advance notably, and LightPath (LPTH) as or if they finally move towards production of new gear in updated Orlando HQ.

Among larger stocks our long-held (and followed) Texas Instruments today was downgraded (by Bernstein) due to shrinking margins (I think related to a sluggish demand profile in China, impacting growth speeds or headwinds). In this case it's a long-term stocks (originally decades ago around 11 bucks as I met with the then-CEO at CES in 'Vegas and and as he moaned about one of the major analysts downgrading TXN, I said I'd initiate and upgrade)...in any event we're not trading it, sort of like long-time (since 57) Apple, just holding.

Shifting back to the macro, we aren't particularly confident of the month ahead for the S&P and some alternating shuffles (or worse) for leading mega-caps. It will be September of course, and I forewarned that pre-Labor-Day upside was tentative. So as S&P moved above the challenging 50-Day Moving Average, I cautioned that this was primarily because of excessive negativity and shorting out there (in stocks, ETF's and Put buying), which set-up the projected rally.

Bottom-line: 

The S&P might begin to hesitate tomorrow (afternoon more so) ahead of the Friday Jobs number... then we'll see if can hold traction (which would be rare) going into a long holiday weekend. Then regardless likely try upside again in the shorter trading week that follows. I'm relieved 'we all' dodged a major hurricane, and some stocks act good.

More By This Author:

Market Briefing For Wednesday, Aug. 30
Market Briefing For Tuesday, Aug. 29
Market Briefing For Monday, Aug. 28