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<p>The S&amp;P 500 traded lower again this week after the Federal Reserve reiterated their commitment to continue tightening monetary policy at last Friday’s Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.</p>
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<p>In this week’s economic reports, the ISM Manufacturing Index remained at a two-year low reading of 52.8%, yet it is still in expansion territory. Additionally, employers added 315K jobs last month, which was the third lowest of the post-pandemic era. Despite the job gains, the unemployment rate jumped by 0.2% to 3.7%, its weakest move since the pandemic-induced recession in early 2020.</p>
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<p>The technical situation worsened this week as the sell-off in equity markets accelerated.&nbsp; Market breadth and leadership have quickly deteriorated after a period of stabilization – confirming that there continues to be a high degree of risk in this environment. Furthermore, our Housing [Bubble] Bellwether Index is testing an important support level that bears watching closely in the days ahead. On a shorter-term basis, our Pressure Factor reached a moderately oversold reading of -42 on Wednesday, thus it is not surprising that the market has rebounded slightly to end the week.</p>
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<p>There are no changes to the Model Fund Portfolio, which remains defensively positioned with a 44% net invested allocation.</p>
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