CHRIS VERSACE: Good morning, Action Alerts PLUS members. We have another day that brings a smattering of corporate earnings, including some from our own portfolio holdings. We also have the first look at GDP for the September quarter.
But before we dig into all those things, setting the stage for that conversation, in our opening comments this morning, we shared that the market mood has become less bullish over the last few weeks and remains what we would say is in fear mode. When we've seen this before, it's often led to overreactions in stock prices despite what is really said in a company's earnings release on its earnings conference call or what the data is telling us. What this simply boils down to is fear and uncertainty have overtaken the markets. And when that happens, it often leads to mistakes, sometimes very sloppy ones.
Our approach is a bit different. We look to remain cool and levelheaded at times like this, doing our best to take emotion out of things, particularly decisions. What we like to do is to keep our eyes focused on what matters and look to be mindful of both opportunities while we acknowledge the risks to be had.
That's again how we like to operate and manage the portfolio. Sometimes we're going to be successful, hopefully more often than not. But we do recognize that we won't always be successful. But again, that's our strategy, and that's what we aim to do.
With that set up, let's take a look at what some of the things we were talking about earlier at the top. First, third quarter GDP was simply better than expected but not as hot as feared as the Atlanta-fed GDP now model was suggesting it could be. However, when we take a look at the GDP price deflator for the September quarter, and just so we're all aware, the GDP price deflator is simply another measure of inflation that we watch, the market watches, and one that, of course, the Fed watches.
So what did it show? Well, for the September quarter, it was not only up compared to the June quarter. It was higher than expected. To us, that's another reason why we're likely to get tough talk from Fed Chair-- excuse me, [LAUGHS] Fed Chair Powell next week. It's going to keep the market in a nervous mood in the near term. What we're going to do is let our inverse ETFs continue to do their job with the same being said for our cash position.
Now, we do see that there's further potential for the market to come under pressure in the very near term. What we're going to do too is continue to patiently pick our spots with our shopping list of portfolio positions, recognizing that yes, some of them have been hard hit in the last few days despite favorable data. Recent examples include universal display and Qualcomm, both of which are poised to report their latest quarterly results next week.
With that, let's move to this morning's earnings reports from Vulcan Materials, United Rentals, and Mastercard. All three were positive. But that market mood that we talked about is overshadowing their results and guidance, even though it ranged from in-line to better than expected.
Again, we're seeing a very nervous and skittish market at work. We have their earnings calls to get through, which should bring more insights and a clearer picture for their respective guidance. The one that we are most focused on is United Rentals.
And I say this because the shares have fallen about 20% or so since early September despite all the favorable data that we've seen on construction spending, both for non-residential and for the housing market. It is one of our biggest positions in the portfolio. And what we learn on the earnings call could tell us if now is the time for members to come back into the shares.
Now, we're going to have much more to say about United Rentals after its earnings call. But the same is going to be true for Mastercard and Vulcan Materials as well. So members, please be sure to check your email inboxes later today. That'll do it for today's rundown. J.D. will be back tomorrow with Bob Lang for a look at the Fed ahead of next week's monetary policy decision and much more.