Coming Up On Wall Street

Good morning. It is 56 degrees and sunny here in Upstate NY. I would like to propose a holiday three day weekend on every weekend of the year. Any backers out there? The hood is quiet this morning, it's nice when the buzz of work day activity is quieted even for a day. Scanning the news there's the major stories about the Presidential election and as we know this will dominate our lives right up through the end of January. I would like to be proven wrong but I do believe Romney wins. The only situation that would change my mind would be Obama somehow re-taking a commanding lead over Romney. Otherwise an up to this point persistent one point lead is an easy margin for the GOTP to massage it's way through. Tied goes to the Republican. In reality the most blaring news story today is the fact that the Arctic sea ice sheet has now reached its least recorded amount, and this occurred within the last week. Simply stated, we will soon have a North Pole without ice. As the article I have posted earlier today exclaims, global warming is rapidly changing the Earth while we go about the business of pretending or denying that it is even occurring at all. Even a Romney/Ryan victory pales in comparison to the size of this tragedy although one must assume that a Romney/Ryan administration will do nothing on global warming and in fact will help create causes and conditions that will increase global warming's rapid change of our environment. Sorry to be so dour on our pleasant holiday.

Starting tomorrow investors and investment activity will increase on Wall Street. The holiday season will be over and consequently the stable less volatile period of the last few weeks is also over.

Investors have a few major items to keep track of and follow in the next few months including a slowdown in China's manufacturing activity, the ever present eurozone economic disaster and it's potential resolution or non resolution, and finally the health of the US economy with its persistent slow weak recovery and how that elephant can be ameliorated by our present or our future federal administration along with assistance from the all present all seeing Bernanke led Fed.

Just to be the devil's advocate for a moment, but why would the US economy go back to a stunning low unemployment rate? What economic activity out there is just screaming to come to fruition and consequently bring in millions of workers. Here's the short answer on that - nothing.

On Friday investors will see the very salient and strategic Fed report on job growth in August. This report will be great fuel for the Romney/Ryan express as it will be weak. Let's remember that the report comes out on Friday which is generally a weak news day in the weekly cycle, in that people pay less attention to the news on the weekend.

Reuters: Wall Street Week Ahead: End of summer to bring volume; all eyes on ECB

"Between now and mid-September, we'll be focusing on the ECB, though the next FOMC meeting is also around the time that the German court meets, so we'll be getting news on both those fronts. Any news from Europe will drive markets more than domestic news, with the exception of the payroll report..."

The all-important U.S. non-farm payrolls report is due on Friday.