Despite the news of an imminent deal on the debt ceiling issue, the Dow (chart) posted its seventh straight trading day of declines. At the open the markets embraced the news of the deal by gapping up sharply before selling off the rest of the day. News out of the manufacturing sector appeared to be the culprit for today’s market weakness. However, I suspect that the gap up this morning would of still faded for the fact remains that this country is still having to get further into debt in an economy that has seemingly stalled.

What’s more, is the month of August historically is a softer month for stocks. So it would probably be a good idea to proceed with caution as you navigate this market and later in the week we will take a look at how the key indices are trading from a technical standpoint.

Have a good evening.

~George