October 4, 2021

Markets:

Stock futures pointed to a lower open on Monday, giving back some of Friday's gains as traders awaited new economic and earnings data this week to confirm or assuage concerns over supply chain challenges, inflation and the pace of the labor market's recovery. 

Stocks are struggling to regain footing after a September selloff, given that many of the concerns that sparked last month's drop have persisted. In Congress, lawmakers have yet to come to an agreement on a solution to raise the debt limit and avert a potential government default, or an outcome that could come as soon mid-month and engender "a financial crisis and economic recession," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned last week. 

And though only a handful of companies are reporting quarterly earnings results this week, the prints will help set the tone ahead of the formal start of third-quarter earnings season with the big banks next week. 

As of Friday, consensus analysts on Wall Street projected earnings growth of just over 27% for the S&P 500 for the third quarter, according to FactSet. That would represent a marked slowdown from the second quarter's 88% pace, but still come in as the third highest year-over-year growth rate since 2010 for the index.

Portfolio:

We enter a new trading week holding positions in SB, SLI, MRO, OPEN, SPPI, and ITRM.  The queue is firing away with new opportunities close to triggering, so please be ready this week..  The severity of the pullback last week was on par with May's volume.  Take a look at what occurred afterwards,  The Monday following the pullback marked the low's for that period.  Replay?  Stay tuned and be ready today!