The Soft Landing ✈

September started on a positive note with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing higher by over 100 points, marking its best weekly performance since July.

The Dow, with its 30 mighty stocks, surged ahead, gaining a solid 115.80 points, equivalent to a 0.33% increase, ultimately closing at 34,837.71. The S&P 500 joined the party, adding approximately 0.18% and wrapping up the session at 4,515.77. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite had a bit of a breather, inching down just 0.02% to finish at 14,031.81.

In the early hours, the major averages were in high spirits. The Dow briefly soared more than 250 points higher, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each climbed around 0.8% before taking a little break.

Now, here's where the tune might change. Historically, September hasn't been the best month for both equities and crypto. Let's take a look:

• Over the past century, the S&P 500 has averaged -1.1% returns throughout September, making it the least favorable month by a long shot.

• On average, Bitcoin tends to dip by around 6%, while ETH typically experiences about a 9% decline during this month. In fact, BTC hasn’t had a positive September since 2016.

So expect some turbulence during the month, especially around the FOMC and release of CPI data.

Why Unemployment Went Up in August: Despite adding 187,000 new jobs last month, the unemployment rate unexpectedly rose from 3.5% in July to 3.8%, the largest one-month jump since May 2023. The unemployment rate measures the proportion of unemployed individuals in the total labor force, which now stands at 167.8 million.

This means more people actively started job hunting last month, even if they weren't recently laid off. And yes, 187,000 new jobs were added, but the unemployment rate calculation uses different data from household surveys.

Dell Knocked it Out of the Park: Dell had its best performing day since its 2018 relisting. Dell shares surged by a remarkable 21.3% on Friday, following an impressive earnings report that sailed past expectations.

Dell reported $22.9 billion in sales, surpassing the $20.9 billion analyst estimate. Their adjusted earnings per share of $1.74 easily beat the $1.14 average analyst estimate. At midday on Friday, Dell was trading at $68.59, set for its most significant gain and highest close since relisting five years ago. Back in 2013, Dell went private under the leadership of founder Michael Dell and a group of private equity firms.

What a Purchase: Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn in December 2016 for $27 billion has proven to be a lucrative investment. In the seven years since becoming a subsidiary of Microsoft, LinkedIn has generated combined revenues of $61.6 billion, more than doubling its acquisition cost (2.3 times to be precise). However, Microsoft has not disclosed LinkedIn's contribution to its total net income.

In its first fiscal year as part of Microsoft, 2017, LinkedIn recorded $2.3 billion in revenues. Since then, it has experienced remarkable growth, achieving a record-breaking $15.1 billion in revenues in the fiscal year 2023.

Potential Major Catalyst for Bitcoin is Delayed: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has postponed its decision on spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications, including those from BlackRock, WisdomTree, Invesco Galaxy, Wise Origin (Fidelity), VanEck, Bitwise, and Valkyrie Digital Assets. The new decision date is set for October, as revealed in agency filings on Thursday.

Bitcoin (BTC), which had already experienced significant declines on the day, further dropped by 4.1% over the past 24 hours to $26,100 in response to this news.

SBF Loses Again: Robinhood has resolved a heated ownership dispute by repurchasing $605 million in shares previously owned by ex-crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried. The shares, seized by the Justice Department in January, originally belonged to Bankman-Fried's bankrupt holding company, Emergent Fidelity Technologies, linked to his collapsed crypto empire, including FTX.

Ultimately, Robinhood regained ownership of the shares from the United States Marshal Service, causing its stock to surge by over 3.5% on Friday.

Covid Cases on the Rise: With Covid cases and hospitalizations rising in the U.S. due to new virus variants, the question of whether you should resume wearing masks is a hot topic.

The CDC reports a concerning trend of nearly 19% weekly increases in new Covid hospitalizations in the U.S., driven by variants like EG.5 ("Eris") and XBB strains, all descendants of omicron.

X Could Collect Biometric and Employment Data: The X social media platform, previously known as Twitter, is making changes to its privacy policy. Starting from September 29, users' biometric and employment data may be collected, although these changes are not in effect yet.

The updated privacy policy mentions that X might use biometric data 'for safety, security, and identification purposes,' but how exactly this data will be used remains unclear.

Usually, biometrics like fingerprints and facial scans are used for authentication during sign-ins or transactions, as we see in banks and payment companies. X could potentially gather biometric data from photos or videos or by requesting camera access, but the platform hasn't provided detailed information on this process.