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An Alternative To Money Market Funds

September 2026

MARKET OVERVIEW
August is behind us as the battle in Iran rages on driving oil prices higher. As of the close of trading on September 11th, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 9.38% year to date. The S&P 500 is up 13.32% and the Nasdaq is up 14.84% as well. The impact of the Iranian conflict is seen in the energy markets. Both Brent Crude oil and WTI ended the week trading above the feared $100/barrel level. Brent Crude ended the week trading @ $104.61/barrel while WTI closed @ $100.05/barrel.

Some items of note: Treasury Secretary Bessent will utilize Treasury’s General Account to stabilize the yield on Treasury obligations through open market purchases. Alibaba shares plunged after a $10 billion secondary offering, Charter Communications has completed its acquisition of Cox Communications, McKesson will acquire privately held Precision Medical Group, Nelson Peltz abandoned plans to bid for the Wendy’s burger chain, Dick’s Sporting Goods shares plunged over 30% after announcing weak quarterly results. Utilities Sempra, PG&E and Edison fell after the California legislature failed to include liability protection for these utilities after the wildfires there. Fox News terminated the contract of longtime anchor Maria Bartiromo, Nvidia will acquire Hugging Place, Lilly will acquire privately held Merida Biosciences and ONEOK will acquire Permian Basin assets from Brazos Midstream.

ECONOMIC SUMMARY
Last Friday’s Nonfarm Payroll Report was much stronger than expected as 162,000 jobs were added, well above the 53,000 jobs increase forecast. The prior two months saw a revised increase of 55,000 jobs. The Labor Participation Rate improved to 61.6% while the U-6 rate dipped to 7.7%. The U-3 rate held steady at 4.1%. The next Nonfarm Payroll Report will be released on Friday, October 2.

FEDERAL RESERVE
The Federal Reserve met July 27-28 and stood pat on rates. The Fed will continue to monitor inflation and hopes to soon meet its 2% target. The Fed will next meet on September 15-16. Many economists are predicting a quarter point increase in Fed Funds at this meeting.

STOCKS TO WATCH
The Protect College Sports Act is a bipartisan bill designed to establish a comprehensive framework for college sports. It will focus on Name, Image and Likeness rights (NILs), more Protection of athletes rights and competitive fairness. It will create a Federal framework rather than the current patchwork of state NIL laws.

For many involved in college sports, this legislation cannot be passed fast enough. They realize that the biggest schools will dominate college sports going forward if this legislation does not pass. The Act  requires NIL deals to meet fair market value analysis. There will be an agent fee cap with a maximum fee of 5% of the NIL deal. Athletes will be able to transfer once without losing any eligibility while a 2nd transfer will cost a full year  of eligibility. An athlete's college career is capped at 5 calendar years. Schools must provide full out of pocket medical coverage during the athletes’ career and for 5 years after leaving school. Other provisions will be debated in the Senate before moving to the US House. President Trump has stated he will sign the bill as soon as it arrives on his desk

My weekly radio show is now on holiday and should return soon on WWPR 1490 AM. My prior radio shows and columns are available here.

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