Hey friend,
With the government shutdown on going, jobs data has been scarce.
However, tomorrow we get private sector employment numbers (based on payroll data), which will provide some much needed context for the market.
The Daily Direction
Note: Indexes closed mixed yesterday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rising – powered by Big Tech – while the Dow and the Russell 2000 fell. The short-term direction for the Russell 2000 slipped into downward territory.
The Daily Nugget
Resist the need for certainty.
As humans, we psychologically hate uncertainty and crave certainty.
You see this tendency everywhere – from politics to the markets.
But in the markets, the best traders know how to resist the need for certainty…
And to play the odds instead.
Because the truth is, the only thing that’s certain in the markets is that nothing is certain.
Even Head Trader Ross Givens frequently and openly admits he doesn’t know for sure what’s coming next.
Sure, he’s made a lot of calls that have proven right – from the April lows to the November 2024 rally to all the various pullbacks along the way.
But these calls were all made on probabilities not certainties.
So beware of those trying to sell you certainty – because they’re trying to pull the wool over your eyes.
And more importantly…
Resist the emotional need to always look for certainty in the markets…
Because it never existed – and it never will.
The Traders Agency Team
