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This Week's Market Review

In a week with light economic data and earnings reports coming to an end, the stock market basically closed flat. It appears that operating earnings for the S&P 500 companies will post a strong 15% gain, pushing the P/E multiple for the S&P 500 down to 15.2. We saw strong earnings reports from Humana, MetLife, International Paper, and Sunoco, to name a few. The big news for the week was the July employment data released on Friday. Nonfarm payrolls reported a 113,000 gain, below the expected 125,000 to 150,000 increase. This led many to believe the Fed will not raise rates at this Tuesday's meeting. Other economic data included a smaller than expected increase of 1.2% in June factory orders and moderate growth in June personal income and spending. Going forward, all eyes will not only be on the Fed action on rates on Tuesday, but the accompanying policy statement. The market largely believes that the Fed will pause in its rate cycle. Any statement that another rate hike is possible in the future could still possibly roil the markets.

The DOW closed the week up, gaining 20.65 points to close at 11240.35 The S&P rose 0.1%, climbing 0.81 points, ending the week at 1279.36. The NASDAQ fell 0.4%, losing 9.09 points, ending the week at 2085.05.