Week of 09/25-09/29 Market Falls, Government Shutdown In Sight

Stock market indices fell this week with the Dow Jones Industrial Average losing over 100 points and the S&P 500 as well as the Nasdaq ending in their worst month of 2023. The main topic for this week has been the imminent government shutdown as lawmakers attempt to reach spending agreements by the end of the month, on September 30th. This doesn't directly affect the stock market, but it doesn't help consumer and investor confidence. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index came out Friday morning which showed an annual retraction difference of 0.1% from forecast expectations for August. The PCE is the Federal Reserve's preferred metric for inflation and the FED has an inflation target goal of the PCE indexes at 2%, currently at 3.9%. This result had tech stocks recover some confidence on Friday since this sector has been lagging all week. With September ending over the weekend, stay on the lookout for the results of the government shutdown and expect volatility coming Monday at the market open.