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Market Direction Is Important –
Updated Chart of the S&P 500 and Secondary Signals
Of our Four secondary indicators under our MTI:
Relative Strength Index (RSI)-Negative
Chaikin Money Flow (CMF)-Positive
MACD- Negative
Money Flow Index-MFI-Negative
More on the Market and the Economy:
Stocks closed slightly lower on Friday, as the market weighed the likelihood of a September rate hike in the wake of the in-line jobs report. The S&P 500 closed out the week with a 2.21% loss, while the Dow posted its seventh straight decline, marking its worst losing streak since the debt-ceiling drama in the summer of 2011.
This week data will be released on small business optimism, industrial production, business inventories, retail sales and the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
Speaking on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell said that “the time is coming” for a rate hike, and that he will be “very, very focused on the data”. He also said that “I think most members of the FOMC at the June meeting believed that it was time to raise interest rates sometime this year”.
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said that he would need to see substantial deterioration to be opposed to a September rate increase.
This week, the Department of Labor will host 4 days of hearings on its proposed fiduciary rule. The proposal was introduced back in April, and the comment period that followed generated over 900 letters. The hearings will include 75 witnesses from both sides of the debate.
The current Congress has been a bit more productive so far. With both the House and Senate now in August recess, the 114th Congress has enacted 41 laws. By comparison, at the start of its August recess, the 113th Congress passed 31 laws, and the 112th Congress passed 28.
The value of a $15 minimum wage varies quite a bit depending on where workers live. According to Pew Research, in Honolulu a $15 wage would have a real purchasing power of $12.24, while in Beckley, Virginia $15 would have purchasing power of $19.23. While the federal minimum wage has stood at $7.25 since 2009, 29 states and the District of Columbia have enacted higher minimums.
An interesting infographic on Medicare’s transition over the past 50 years:
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