U.S. stocks spent most of the week flat as investors waited for Federal Reserve Chairman Powell’s Jackson Hole speech on the economy. That limited activity changed on Friday when Powell said the central bank could start tapering its purchases of bonds by the end of the year. Friday’s trading was strong, the Nasdaq was up 1.2%, the S&P 500 gained 0.9% and the Dow rose 0.7%. The 10-year Treasury yield fell almost 5 basis points on Friday, but ended the week at 1.31%. For the week, Energy turned in the best performance, rising 4.9%, Financials followed up 2.8%, and Consumer Discretionary was up 2.7%. The lagging sectors for the week were Consumer Staples, down 1.5%, Utilities, down 0.9%, and Real Estate, down 0.8%.

Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana as a Category 4 storm on Sunday, pounding the coast with over 150 mile-per-hour winds, torrential downpours and storm surges. Power was knocked out in the New Orleans metropolitan area. The pounding surf even reversed the flow of the Mississippi River. The cost of the storm could exceed $40B and will test the flood defenses installed after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Sadly, Ida came ashore on the 16th anniversary of Katrina's landfall.

WTI crude prices neared $70/barrel in anticipation of the storm on Sunday. 95% of total U.S. oil and gas production in the Gulf Coast region is still offline, prompting natural gas and gasoline futures to rise. According to energy analysts, the worst-case scenario of Ida is adding 10 cents to 20 cents to the price of a gallon of gas through September/ October. Offshore wells in the area account for 17% of total U.S. crude production and 5% of the US natural gas output, while more than 45% of total U.S. refining capacity is along the Gulf Coast.

Joe Biden announced that U.S. health officials are considering moving Covid-19 booster shots up 3 months from the original plan of 8 months after full vaccination to 5 months. This comes as daily new Covid cases surpassed 175,000 on 8/27/21 and hospitals are becoming stretched for ICU beds. Israel released data stating that the booster provided four times the protection against the delta variant than the previous two doses in people 60 and older. Pending a final clearance from the FDA, booster shots are expected to begin September 20th.