September 23, 2021

Markets:

Stock futures extended gains Thursday morning as investors mulled the Federal Reserve's latest signals on monetary policy, which suggested the central bank was warming to a near-term policy adjustment as the economy improved further. 

The Federal Reserve's upbeat tone on the economic recovery, and suggestion that the timing of the tapering process of its asset purchase program would come largely in-line with market expectations, helped sustain a rally in risk assets during Wednesday's session. Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that he believed the U.S. economy had already surpassed the central bank's goals for inflation, and said a "reasonably good" September jobs report would indicate that the Fed's employment goals to begin tapering had been satisfied as well. 

Initial unemployment claims posted a surprise rise last week, bouncing further from a pandemic-era low from early September.

New weekly claims came in at 351,000 for the week ended September 18. That was well above the 320,000 consensus economists expected, according to Bloomberg data, and rose compared to the 335,000 posted during the prior week. 

Portfolio:

No changes to our current holdings needed for the open.  We will be adding to our holdings today, so pelase be ready.   We told you on Monday; do not overreact and welcome this downturn as a new wave of opportunity. Glad our trading community continues to be right with navigating this market.  Now let's prosper further and really take advantage o this market over the next few months to end 2021!  Let's have a great session.