The market is rallying again in early trading after a much better jobs report than the consensus was looking for. Nonfarm payrolls for August fell 54,000 but that was far less than the 120,000 that was expected. Moreover, private payrolls rose 67,000, which was considerably stronger than the 44,000 expected gain.

Chart of The Day: "Except for a brief counter-trend rally in July, the stock market has struggled since peaking in late April. Investors are concerned. For some perspective, today's chart presents the Dow's average performance for each calendar month since 1950. As today's chart illustrates, it is not unusual for the stock market to underperform during the May to October time frame with a brief counter-trend rally occurring in July.

Financial market experts sometimes cite the Economic Cycle Research Institute’s (ECRI) Weekly Leading Index (WLI) as an important economic indicator, implying that it is somehow predictive of future stock market performance.

Yesterday’s ISM Manufacturing data took many market participants by surprise.  In today’s screencast we note that maybe this should not have been that big of surprise.  Signs that the US manufacturing economy is continuing to expand strikes many as odd given the overall gloom about the US economy.  Todd Sullivan at ValuePlays has been consistent in noting the many signs that US economy is

After yesterday's outsized rally, the market is higher in early trading following some solid reports. In economic news, pending home sales rose +5.2% in July vs. expectations for no change. So that is a pretty solid report.

Also, same-store sales for the nation's retailers came in for the most part better than expected, and that is pushing the retail index (XRT) up +2.25% so far today, leading most ETFs. The homebuilding etf (XHB) is up +2.63% on the above-mentioned report.