September begins with big drop | Manufacturing recession? | Walmart curbs gun sales

TUE, SEP 03, 2019

EVENING BRIEF

AS OF TUE, SEP 03, 2019 • 04:01 ET

DJIA		26119.11
		-1.08%	-284.17

S&P 500		2906.35
		-0.69%	-20.11

NASDAQ		7874.16
		-1.11%	-88.72

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DOW
NAME	LAST	CHG	%CHG
PFE	36.12	+0.57	+1.60%
AAPL	205.70	-3.04	-1.46%
MSFT	136.04	-1.82	-1.32%

S&P 500
NAME	LAST	CHG	%CHG
GE	8.33	+0.08	+0.97%
BAC	27.05	-0.46	-1.67%
AMD	30.90	-0.55	-1.75%

NASDAQ
NAME	LAST	CHG	%CHG
AMD	30.90	-0.55	-1.75%
AAPL	205.70	-3.04	-1.46%
MSFT	136.04	-1.82	-1.32%

EDITOR'S NOTE

Welcome to September, historically the worst month of the year for stock market investors.

Anyone who had any doubts about that awoke to a sizable slide in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The decline followed tariffs taking effect over the weekend, reports showing a contraction in the manufacturing sector and more tweets from President Donald Trump pressuring China.

The latest developments also took a toll on bond yields. The yield on the 10-year note fell to its lowest level since July 2016 at 1.441%. The yield on the 30-year bond dipped to 1.925%.

September is a dismal month even without these issues, which battered markets last month, leaving the S&P 500 about where it was a year ago.

"It's worth asking whether August's profoundly negative atmospherics — the deepening anxiety over trade-war escalation and purported omens of recession — have left Wall Street pretty well-braced for what September might hold," writes CNBC's Michael Santoli. "Measures of investor attitudes … suggest a level of caution last seen either just after the late-2018 20% market tumble or back to the previous economic scares of 2015-16 and 2011 when stocks had shed more than 15%."

Using data from Kensho, CNBC looked at 30 years of Septembers. The results are not promising.

What's an investor to do in a September like this? So far, amid all this uncertainty, two sectors stand out for performance, writes CNBC's Maggie Fitzgerald. The utilities sector is benefiting as investors flock to defensive stocks with steady dividends. And the real estate sector is expected to benefit from ever-falling interest rates.

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