CHRIS VERSACE: Good morning, Action Alerts PLUS members. It's Tuesday, September 6. As we return from the Labor Day holiday, a number of things have unfolded over the long weekend.
China has extended its most recent COVID lockdown. Russia announced it doesn't know when it will resume exports of natural gas to Europe. OPEC Plus announced a largely symbolic cut to oil production, beginning in October.
California declared a power grid emergency amid its latest heat wave. And service PMI from both the eurozone and the UK during August point to a further slowdown in that economy. Moreover, continued weakness in new order growth says more of the same is ahead for September as we look to close out the current quarter.
Here at home, the S&P Global Services PMI for August also came in weaker than expected at a reading of 43.7 versus 47.3 in July. Remember, anything below a reading of 50 points to a contraction. Also here, too, in the S&P Global Service PMI data, the new order component was below 50, pointing, yes, to further weakness ahead.
Meanwhile, the ISM Services Index for August painted a somewhat different picture, as the headline reading actually grew slightly month over month. But the key takeaway from this report was that inflation data was barely changed in August compared to July. All that, and it's just Tuesday. That combination has renewed the sell-off in the markets, as concerns over a slowing economy, possibly falling into a recession, once again bubbles up.
Now, the balance of the week we have several investor conferences. And as we've shared with members, we'll be on watch for earnings revisions to the downside as companies discuss the number of headwinds that they have been facing, several of which have only intensified in recent months. Also this week, Apple has its Far Out event tomorrow, Wednesday, September 7. And while, yes, a number of new iPhone models are likely to be announced and be the core focus, we'll also be looking to see if there are any new product or service announcements made during the event.
On Thursday, Fed Chair Powell speaks at the Cato Institute's 40th Annual Monetary Conference, when we also have a number of Fed heads speaking this week as well. Given the data that we've seen, we don't see the Fed backing down from Fed Chair Powell's Jackson Hole comments just yet. Here's the thing-- all those events bookend our next AAP members-only call. That is tomorrow, again, Wednesday, September 7, at 12:00 PM. And it's going to give us quite a bit to talk about.
In terms of the market as we start the week, the market oscillators remain oversold. We could see a bounce in the market in the coming days. But let's remember, we are still in a bear market that is facing a number of issues, from the resurgence in the dollar to the slowing economy and energy price pressures, to name just a few.
We continue to see more risk to downward revisions and earnings expectations than upside revisions. More than likely, it means any market bounce will be short lived. We with the portfolio will continue to evaluate the market setup as more fundamental data is had and the technical picture evolves, but for now, we're going to remain on the prudent path. That's a wrap for today's rundown. Thanks for joining us.