Headlines

A quick note.  Markets are up in the premarket based on headlines that seem to indicate trade talks with the Chinese may be back on the table.  Markets have been very volatile this month as they've been held hostage to the news on the trade war front and whatever blurts from the President's mouth.  That being said we're only down about 1.5% for the month based on where the futures indicate we're going to open.  Not so bad for August and not so bad for a year where markets are up on average double digits up to this point.

Lost in all this though is that economic data continues to be decent here in the US.  Pay more attention to what's actually going on with the economy as that's what will ultimately drive stock prices.  There is always short-term headline risk but it is the hard data that makes for long-term market advances.  Probability indicates this data will be ultimately supportive of stocks as long as it remains positive.

Back late next week.