Market News

It's the 10th year in a row where the day after Labor Day was red. I'd chalk that up to the depressing feeling of winding down summer. 

Today's decline of 0.6% in the S&P 500 was within the normal range of the declines aside from particularly harsh slumps in 2024 and 2020. It was the usual concerns about AI that mostly weighed with Nvidia down 2.1% and MCFT down 1.2%. The healthcare sector was particularly hard hit today with Amgen struggling to a 10% but losses of 2-3% elsewhere. Oil companies, Tesla, Intel, AMD and Broadcom were outperformers.

Closing changes:

• S&P 500 -0.6%
• Nasdaq Comp -0.3%
• Russell 2000 -0.3%
• DJIA -1.2%

There is a Mehr News report that says:

•  According to Mehr correspondent based on Kharg Island, the sound of several explosions was heard in parts of Kharg Island a few minutes ago
•  The sound of explosions was heard from the area of the Kharg anchorage

This is regime-affiliated news service so take it with a grain of salt but the US has been striking Iran's ships.

WTI crude settled up $1.55 to $93.03 and is now testing the July highs again. Kharg Island is Iran's export hub for oil.

Update: An i24 report says the US is attacking oil tankers.

Intel shares are surging 10% today, helped by a combination of improving analyst sentiment, potential pricing power and increased optimism surrounding the company’s foundry business.

Northland Securities upgraded Intel to Outperform from Market Perform and established a $120 price target. Analyst Gus Richard pointed to improving execution in Intel’s turnaround, tight supplies of server processors and the potential benefit from the company’s reported involvement with Tesla’s Terafab semiconductor project.

If that relationship develops, it could provide an important boost for Intel Foundry, the division responsible for manufacturing chips for outside customers.

Separately, DigiTimes reported that Intel may raise CPU prices by as much as 10%.…

The ability of the oil market to shrug of geopolitical (and physical) impacts this year is truly a marvel.

Crude rose at the open and climbed as high as $94.37 per barrel today but has now largely retreated and is up 88-cents to $92.30.

Earlier this hour, brent prices even turned briefly negative.

The chart here is where it gets interesting as today's move could be a false breakout above the June high. Oil has been consolidating near that levels but it's been losing momentum after a bit runup from $80. Today was a 'good news' day for oil but it wasn't able to complete the break. That begs the question: if it can't rally on good news, when can it?

The US struck three Iranian tankers on the weekend and sunk one. That was after Iran fired on US…

S&P 500 futures analysis: 7,680 support faces a key test

By Itai Levitan | September 8, 2026 | Analysis snapshot: approximately 12:30 p.m. New York time (UTC-4)

S&P 500 futures are testing support near 7,680 after giving back roughly half of last week’s rebound. On the four-hour chart, the immediate bias is cautious to bearish while price remains below 7,725-7,730. A sustained break below support would increase downside risk, while reclaiming that resistance would improve the recovery case.

• Support under pressure: The latest pullback has reached the rising boundary drawn on the chart, near 7,680.
• Buyers need follow-through: A recovery above 7,725-7,730 would challenge the immediate bearish bias.
• Confirmation is…

The 1st coupon auction of the week was met with average demand. The US treasury sold $58 billion of 3 or notes at a high yield of 4.474%. The WI level at the time of the auction was just above that level at 4.75% creating a tale of -0.1 basis points.

• Bid to cover 2.72X was higher than the average of 2.62X
• Domestic buyers (directs) took 26.9%, above the 20.4% average
• international buyers (indirects) took 64.2% versus 65.5% average
• Dealers took less than average at 10.9% vs 14.1% average. 

There were reports that flights have been suspended at Jeddah Airport in Saudi Arabia . There is other reports of explosions in Jazan region of Saudi Arabia with explosions heard in Saudi Arabian oilfields.   Alerts have also been activated in Saudi Arabia is Jazan region but reports are that the danger has passed. 

Tensions rise between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis

Tensions surrounding Saudi Arabia increased sharply over the weekend as fighting intensified between Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels and forces aligned with the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

Saudi-backed forces expanded ground operations against the Houthis on several fronts, including Hodeida, Taiz, Jawf, Marib and Bayda. The Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of supporting…

In an earlier trading lesson from September 3, I asked a simple question:

Do traders need to know everything about a company before trading its stock?

My answer was no—but that does not mean fundamentals are unimportant.

Understanding what a company does, why its business is attracting attention and what may drive its future growth can help traders develop a directional bias. However, that knowledge alone does not tell you where to enter, where the trade is wrong or how much capital should be placed at risk.

That is where the technicals become essential.

Technical levels provide the trading roadmap. Moving averages, retracement levels, swing areas and previous highs and lows identify where buyers or sellers should show up. More importantly,…

The USDCAD moved higher at the end of last week following a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report and weaker-than-expected Canadian employment data. Fundamentally, that combination should have supported the U.S. dollar against the Canadian dollar.

However, the price action told a different story—and ultimately, price action deals the cards.

The post-jobs rally stalled within a swing area between 1.38669 and 1.3877. Buyers had their shot, but they could not get above that resistance area and stay above it. That failure was the first warning that the fundamental story was not translating into sustained buying.

When a market cannot rally on news that should be bullish, traders need to pay attention. It often signals that the favorable news…

The latest monthly survey from the NY Fed:

• One-year inflation expectations unchanged at 3.6%
• Three year inflation expectations to 3.2% vs 3.3% prior
• Five year inflation expectations unchanged at 3%
• Expectations for higher unemployment at worst since April 2020
• Labor market expectations were 'mixed' overall
• Consumers projected higher future gasoline prices
• Views about current and future personal finance deteriorated

There isn't much good news in this report but for the Fed, the inflation expectations metric -- by far -- is the most important one and it doesn't argue for hiking this month. The market is pricing in a 57% chance of a hike.

Expectations for higher unemployment:

Both the broader S&P and Nasdaq indices are trading lower on the day, with declines of around 0.45%. The weakness has both indices moving closer to key hourly moving averages that could help determine whether buyers remain in control—or whether the short-term bias begins to shift more firmly to the downside.

S&P tests its 100- and 200-hour moving averages

For the S&P index, the price is testing both its 100- and 200-hour moving averages in early North American trading:

• 100-hour moving average: 7,689.86

• 200-hour moving average: 7,676

Those moving averages represent an important technical barometer for buyers and sellers. Holding above them would give buyers some hope that the current decline is simply a corrective move within the broader upward…

It's no surprise this is higher after non-farm payrolls. Note that this is a composite index that grabs from various sources that are already public. That said, it's still a useful barometer and has been trending higher.

Here is what the Conference Board says:

“The ETI increased for a second consecutive month in August and is now up 2.0% from its level one year ago,” said Conrad Qi, Economic Data Scientist Associate, The Conference Board. “Although they were mixed in August on a month-over-month basis, all eight components of the ETI delivered positive average contributions over the past six months. This suggests support for continued job growth after nonfarm payrolls grew by 162,000 in August.”Qi continued, “The largest positive…