Equities stumble, but we see reasons for optimism

Labor Day week wound up being laborious for equities, as the wall of worry proved too difficult to climb. Concerns about a looming Fed taper, a complicated path for stimulus and debt ceiling negotiations and ongoing worries about the Delta variant drove the S&P 500 (-1.7%), DJIA (-2.4%) and Nasdaq (-1.4%) to finish in the red. The U.S. Treasury curve steepened, and the 10-year yield held above 1.30%.