As for July’s market performance; chalk up three bad years in a row. Subsequent August performance was good each year. Will that pattern repeat? Well, stay tuned.

Today was a typical Monday in early August and volume was rather light. But the heaviest volume we had was mostly on the downside. We have some folks still trying to straighten Yahoo/Finance out. They’ve acknowledged their math problem and have been given the remedy. When they incorporate it is another matter.

Good news? Oil prices continued to build on their downtrend as tropical storm Edourad was dismissed as a problem. I think that pretty much sums up the good news.

Bad news? Citigroup reported losses on credit card loans; Challenger reported a 141% increase in YOY layoffs which were the most since November 2001; WCI Communities filed for Chapter 11 [shocked?]; Jet Blue is gonna charge $7 for a pillow and blanket [shucks!] and, inflation data was bad. But, hey, not to worry, the Fed meets tomorrow and….well, nevermind.

Chucky the Consumer seems unruffled and even blasé today.

Obama and the democrat leadership want to start releasing oil from the Strategic Reserve as if that’s a policy. Over the weekend I thought maybe oil would rally given both a storm and hostile Iran yet the opposite happened. That’s why they play the game, right?

Last week was pretty crazy. I stood back from the two-way action and watched the spectacle like many of you. I was also annoyed at developments and sometimes that’s not the best time to be writing commentaries here as opposed to writing your congressman. The government and politicians of both parties are on a spending and giveaway binge such as we’ve never before experienced. Economic troubles combined with an election year spells trouble for those footing the bill.

Tomorrow is Fed day. My prediction is they’ll meet, issue strong words about inflation, say it’s both contained and moderating, but as to interest rates they’ll probably do nothing. There, I’m on the record. This is brave stuff for someone not in the prediction business.

The week is young and we should have more fireworks and special effects from Wall Street, DC, China and Iran.

Have a pleasant evening.

Disclaimer: Among other issues the ETF Digest maintains long or short positions in: MZZ, QQQQ, QID, SMN, IEF, PST, TLT, TBT, DBC, DEE, USO, EWZ, and RSX.

Last 5 posts by David Fry

• MARKET COMMENT October 22, 2009 DRIVE-THRU SOUP KITCHEN 2009 So, what the hell was yesterday about anyway? - October 22nd, 2009
• MARKET COMMENT October 20, 2009 TAKING A BREAK It was a pretty strange day. - October 20th, 2009
• MARKET COMMENT October 13, 2009 EARNINGS WORRY WARTS I just have a spooky feeling but then I always do. - October 13th, 2009
• MARKET COMMENT October 8, 2009 GETTING SOME ALTITUDE SICKNESS YET? - October 8th, 2009
• MARKET COMMENT October 2, 2009 REALITY BITES BULLS Economic reality is meeting bullish enthusiasm and the results are disappointing and upsetting. - October 2nd, 2009