What happened this week

It was a rough end to the quarter as September closed on Friday with losses across all indices. The S&P 500 fell 1.5% to close at 3,585.62 Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.7% to 28,725.51. The Nasdaq composite slid 1.5% to 10,575.62. The tech-heavy index has dropped 10.5% in September and is down 32.4% so far this year.

The ‘October Effect’, as we enter the final quarter of the year investors on Wall Street are nervous about the looming ‘October Effect’. In an analysis by LPL Financial, October historically has been the most volatile month for markets, seeing the most swings of greater than 1%.

On Monday Oil futures were on the rise after OPEC announced they were considering cutting production by more than 1 million barrels a day.

This coming week, investors will be focussed on jobs data as we enter the fourth quarter of the year and start the earnings season.

Mon Oct 3rd: Construction spending and the ISM manufacturing PMI

Thurs Oct 6th: Earnings reports, Target, Alphabet and Twitter.

Fri Oct 7th: September jobs report, Wholesale Inventories and Consumer Credit.