Merriman Market Analyst
Free Weekly Forecast
MMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING OCTOBER 5, 2026
October 2, 2026
REVIEW: by Raymond Merriman The U.S. economy created far fewer jobs than expected in September, pointing to a surprising soft spot in the labor market and broader economy. Nonfarm payrolls rose a seasonally adjusted 29,000 for the month while the unemployment rate increased to 4.2%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics...
Read MoreMMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING SEPTEMBER 28, 2026
September 25, 2026
REVIEW by Guest Contributor Pouyan Zolfagharnia “President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that France plans to send troops to Saudi Arabia to help protect a refinery and crude oil pipeline in the Red Sea port of Yanbu, ramping up France’s military efforts to contain the impact of the Iran war.”
Read MoreMMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING SEPTEMBER 21, 2026
September 18, 2026
REVIEW: by Raymond Merriman The Federal Reserve raised interest rates Wednesday for the first time in three years, a sharp reversal that began taking back cuts it made last year and implicitly undercut the White House’s insistence that inflation isn’t a concern. The increase, approved unanimously, will raise the benchmark...
Read MoreMMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING SEPTEMBER 14, 2026
September 11, 2026
REVIEW by Guest Contributor Pouyan Zolfagharnia “Houthi militants seized a strategic island in the Bab al-Mandeb strait and a town along its mainland coast on Friday, taking effective control of one of the world’s most important shipping chokepoints after a rapid offensive.”
Read MoreMMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING SEPTEMBER 7, 2026
September 4, 2026
REVIEW by Guest Contributor Wyatt Fellows NOTE: U.S. financial markets will be closed on Monday, September 7, in observance of the Labor Day holiday.
Read MoreMMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING AUGUST 31, 2026
August 28, 2026
REVIEW by Guest Contributor Gianni Di Poce Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh used his Jackson Hole speech Friday to answer critics of his muddled July news conference, delivering a clearer warning that stubborn inflation could push the Fed toward a rate hike.
Read MoreMMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING AUGUST 24, 2026
August 21, 2026
REVIEW by Ray Merriman Gross U.S. debt has surpassed $40 trillion, a new milestone in the country’s struggle to control its finances. Reaching that threshold carries symbolic weight, but isn’t, by itself, economically significant. Most investors and economists care less about raw figures than other measures, like the ratio of debt...
Read MoreMMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING AUGUST 17, 2026
August 14, 2026
REVIEW by Guest Contributor Pouyan Zolfagharnia Two straight days of soft inflation data lifted the S&P 500 index to an all-time high. —Jack Pitcher, “Cool Inflation Data Propels Stocks to Fresh Records,” The Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2026.
Read MoreMMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING AUGUST 10, 2026
August 7, 2026
REVIEW By Raymond Merriman The Labor Department’s July jobs report showed that the economy lost 23,000 jobs last month, a big shortfall versus the gain of 83,000 that economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected. Revisions to May and June payroll numbers showed that the economy added 103,000...
Read MoreMMA FREE WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE WEEK BEGINNING AUGUST 3, 2026
July 31, 2026
REVIEW- by Guest Contributor Pouyan Zolfagharnia An explosion at a port on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast that set fire to two ships, including a U.S. gas-storage tanker, was caused by a drone attack, Egyptian authorities said Thursday, the first targeting of the country during the current Iran war and a new...
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