The much-awaited August jobs report dropped on Friday and it looked awfully bleak. The official numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the economy added 235,000 jobs in August, which was far from what economists were expecting as the economy tries to snap back from the pandemic. The experts were expecting a gain of 750,000 new jobs during August.  

August saw the smallest monthly gain in jobs since January. Stocks opened down on the news, but they recovered some ground later on. One explanation for this can be that a jobs miss could give the Federal Reserve more room to maneuver as it considers when to reverse course on financial stimulus like bond buying and zero-percent interest rates. A pause in the recovery means investors can stop worrying about tapering, at least for a while.

The Nasdaq outshined the other major indices this week, up 1.02%. The S&P 500 also closed higher on the week, up 0.32%. Meanwhile, Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.13%.


Top Sectors last Week:

  • Real Estate Sector (ETF: XLRE) up 4.01%
  • Health Care Sector (ETF: XLV) up 1.65%
  •  Consumer Staples Sector (ETF: XLP) up 1.39%

Losers last week:

  • Financials Sector (ETF: XLF) down 2.43%
  • Energy Sector (ETF: XLE) down 1.88%
  • Materials Sector (ETF: XLB) down 1.10%

Interesting News:

  • Sports betting action heats up with the opening game of the NFL season set for September 9 and the college football season ramping up with a full schedule of games. That means that sports betting companies should be in the spotlight again. Just ahead of the football flurry, operators FOX Bet (FOXA), BetMGM (MGM) and WynnBET (WYNN) were named by the NFL as Approved Sportsbook Operators for the 2021 season to join Caesars Entertainment (CZR), DraftKings (DKNG) and FanDuel (PDYPY). The next catalysts to watch in the sector could be the efforts of major players to break into New York and California through new initiatives.
  •  Apple is rumored to be announcing new IPhone and other products on September 14th. Apple shares tend to perform very well in July and August, likely in anticipation for a few key fall season catalysts. Among them is the launch of the new iPhone (and possibly the new Watch), followed closely by the start of the holiday shopping season. But September, probably due to sell-the-news forces, tends to be a less bullish month for AAPL. It is not traditionally the weakest period of performance for the stock, but it marks the beginning of a five-month period of underperformance relative to the broad market that lasts through January.  


The Calendar

U.S. stock and bond markets are closed on Monday for Labor Day. The holiday-shortened week then features several notable company updates and economic data releases.

The economic data highlight of the week will be Friday’s August producer price index from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists’ consensus estimate is for a 0.6% monthly rise in the headline index, and a 0.5% increase for the core PPI—which leaves out more volatile food and energy prices. Both the core and headline indexes rose 1% in July. The August consumer price index will be out the following week, on Sept. 14

Anticipated Earnings This week: 

Tuesday, September 7th: Casey’s General Stores (CASY), Coupa Software (COUP).
Wednesday, September 8th: REV Group (REVG), GameStop (GME), Lululemon (LULU), RH (RH) and ABM Industries (ABM).
Thursday, September 9th: Academy Sports (ASO), FuelCell Energy (FCEL), Zscaler (NSDAQ:ZS) and H&R Block (HRB) and Affirm Holdings (AFRM).
Friday, September 10th: Kroger (KR) and Roots (RROTF).