Weekly Market Commentary 10/5/2018

Good news on the economic front dominated the news cycle this week, overshadowing for a change discordant events in Washington, although high anxiety and uncertainty over the Kavanaugh nomination carried over into the weekend. But even the administration had some positive nuggets for the financial markets, as the new trade agreement forged with Canada and Mexico took some of the sting out of mounting trade fears. Indeed, escalating concern over trade policy was the one dark cloud that weighed on this week’s economic reports as reflected in the responses to surveys of manufacturers and service sector businesses.