September may still turn out to be a bad month for stocks, but not this week. After falling from all-time highs to start the week, stocks rallied to end the week as the bad news is good news narrative returned. In this case, a weaker-than-expected August jobs report all but cemented the likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates later this month.
Investors should be careful not to confuse backward-looking data with forward-looking investor sentiment. The recent strength in stocks is due in part to expectations for what the economic data will be at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. So far, bullish investors have been right.
Next week, investors will get the last reads on inflation before the Federal Reserve meeting on September 16 and 17. Barring an unexpected spike in the numbers, this could add fuel to the market rally. The MarketBeat analysts will watch that and help point to the stocks and stories that can help investors profit in a volatile market. Here are some of our most popular stories from this week.
