Trading Week Wrap Up! – 10/02/26

Another trading week is in the books—and September just gave us a lot to digest.

The labor market is slowing. Inflation pressures haven't disappeared. Manufacturing is still expanding. Treasury yields remain above 5%. And after the Federal Reserve's September rate hike, traders are already trying to figure out whether another one is coming.

On today's TraderMerlin, we're putting all the pieces together in another Trading Week Wrap Up!

I'll break down the biggest market headlines of the week, unveil my latest Fed Scorecard, run through the major economic data we received for September and, of course, give you updates on my own trades.

And today's jobs report just made the Fed's job considerably more interesting.

The U.S. added only 29,000 jobs in September, well below expectations, while previous payroll numbers were revised lower.

That's important because we've spent much of the past few weeks worrying about an economy that might be running too hot for the Fed.

Now we're getting a different signal.

So which is it?

Is the economy finally cooling enough to stop the Fed—or is inflation still strong enough to force another rate hike anyway?

That's where my Fed Scorecard comes in.

Rather than obsessing over one headline number, we'll look at the different pieces of the economy that could influence the Fed's next decision and see whether the overall picture points toward Hike, Hold or something else entirely.