No ratings

Good afternoon everybody, and welcome to a new trading week. It's sure to be an interesting one no matter what, with a major decision from the Federal Reserve due on Wednesday -- will we get a September rate hike or not? The market/odds say no, but this is a tricky one. We may want to not assume anything, and rather just respond to the chips where and when they fall.

There's still plenty to talk about in the meantime though.

A few days ago we mentioned the market was toying with a rollover and that it may not be a bad idea to start looking at some names that were apt to do something predictable regardless of what the market does. Our first, best, and only suggestion at the time was to focus on the micro caps until stocks were past all their turbulence. We're reiterating that suggestion today on the heels of incredible news from Featured Stock Staffing 360 Solutions (STAF).

No ratings

Whaddya think? Are investors having a tough time making up their mind about the interest rates? A week ago they were going up. On Monday they weren't. On Tuesday they were. On Thursday they weren't. On Friday they were. Geez. If you don't know by now, there's no point in trying to outguess everyone else.

You know which group of stocks has been (unsurprisingly) not affected by the market's fear -- or lack thereof -- regarding interest rates? Micro caps. And to be clear, I don't mean small caps. I mean the sub-$300 million market cap companies that are so off the radar and so "in a vacuum" that it doesn't really matter what the broad market or the economy is doing.

No ratings

Ouch. Well, that sure quelled any budding hopes for a quick recovery. Looks like Monday's dead-cat bounce was nothing more than a one-time pushback. The bears tore into the market from the get-go today, and never looked back.

We'll look at it in detail below. Let's begin with the most important stuff first, which is a look at something interesting one of our Featured Stocks had to say today.

No ratings

Welcome back from the weekend everyone. And, the market certainly welcomed everyone back with open arms. Traders could have very easily assumed the worst after Friday's implosion, and picked up today where they left off on Friday (in a selling mood). But, they didn't.

I still don't have a lot of faith that the bigger bullish trend is going to be rekindled right away. Between the month of the year and the fact that stocks are overbought and overvalued, we need to tread lightly. The market still hasn't suffered a proverbial death blow though.

We'll look at it in some detail below. The first thing I want to talk with you about today was letting you know those of you who are institutional-level investors in the New York City area -- which is actually quite a few of you -- may want to swing by the Lotte New York Palace Hotel, at 455 Madison Avenue, tomorrow if you're interested in learning more about Featured Stocks Vitality Biopharma (VBIO) or Staffing 360 Solutions (STAF). Both will be attending the Rodman & Renshaw Investment Conference, which not only allows its participating companies to make a presentation, but facilitates one-on-one meetings with company management and potential investors.

No ratings

Ouch, What a day, huh? We can't be too surprised though. We've spoken with you more than once about the risk this market was running now that it's September. This is why we had that discussion

Of course, it's not like the market wasn't ripe for this kind of setback anyway. Stocks can only drift sideways for so long before one side or the other has to make a move. The bulls just waited too long, so the bears made the move.

They had good reason to make a move too. Not only did North Korea perform another test of a nuclear warhead, we learned today that Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard will be delivering an unscheduled speech on Monday. Nobody has any clue what she'll be saying, but as is so often the case, traders were more than willing to fill in the blanks on their own. Already at some risk of rising interest rates, the market assumed she wasn't going to say anything investors wanted to hear.