WEEKLY MARKET UPDATE — FOR INVESTORS LEARNING THE ROPES

Week Ending September 5, 2025

The week ending September 5 unfolded under the influence of the Sun and Mercury in Virgo, Saturn retrograde at 29° Pisces, and a Pisces Moon to close it out—marking a climate of scrutiny, reassessment, and subtle but significant turning points. Virgo’s precision aligned with the market’s sharp response to softer-than-expected job data, while the Pisces Moon conjunct Saturn highlighted a mood of disillusionment and fatigue in the labor narrative. With Saturn stationed at the final degree of Pisces—a degree traditionally linked to endings and transitions—the broader sentiment across markets felt like a pause before policy recalibration. These conditions support a shift in tone from defense to adjustment, as investors weigh the Fed’s next move amid falling yields and rising gold.

This past week in the markets, things mostly stayed steady on the surface. The S&P 500 rose just slightly, the NASDAQ moved up around 1%, and the Dow Jones ticked down a bit. But behind the scenes, a disappointing jobs report, falling bond yields, and rising gold prices are pointing to a possible shift in the economy and how the Federal Reserve might respond.

Let’s break down what happened, what it could mean, and how the big picture is taking shape—both in financial terms and through a broader, trend-oriented lens that includes astrological cycles, which some investors watch to better understand sentiment shifts and economic mood.

JOBS REPORT MISSES EXPECTATIONS

The biggest news this week was the August jobs report, which showed the U.S. economy only added 22,000 jobs—a big miss compared to the 75,000 many economists were expecting. Even worse, June’s numbers were revised down to show a loss of 13,000 jobs. That’s the first monthly job loss since the COVID-related shutdowns in 2020.

Unemployment ticked up to 4.3%, the highest since 2021. This suggests the labor market is slowing down, which could be a warning sign for the broader economy.

For investors, weak job numbers usually mean lower inflation risk—and that could lead the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. That’s good news for many investments, especially in bonds and growth stocks.

BOND YIELDS DROP AS RATE CUT ODDS RISE

Following the weak jobs report, bond yields fell. When bond prices go up, their yields (interest rates) go down. The 10-year Treasury yield, a key interest rate investors watch, dropped from a high of 4.31% earlier in the week to 4.09% on Friday.