Despite overwhelming damage to America’s global face, the dysfunctional politicians in Washington passed a temporary solution to the budget and debt ceiling problems at the very last minute.  But really they only kicked the ball two or three months down the road.  Imagine going through this again in early January after Congress takes its holiday break.

We finally had another down week, albeit by the slimmest of margins. This next week promises to be the most important week of the month and, in all likelihood, next month as well. We get the ADP employment report, the FOMC meeting announcement, the first look at Q2 GDP, the Chicago PMI, the consumer confidence report, and more.  Undoubtedly, today’s weakness was based on investor apprehension about this week’s news and continued corporate reports.

Last week’s economic reports were mixed, and the style/caps were simply “mixed up.”  Our style/cap scorecard was turned on its head last week with year-long loser Large-Cap Growth up +0.26% to become the week’s leader and the last year leader (and still leader for the year) Small-Cap Value, bringing up the rear for the week at -0.15%.