Stocks started the day up triple digits, but the DOW and S&P 500 have given up much of the gains and the NASDAQ has turned negative.  In reaction to a Sunday New York Times article about a drug, Daraprim, which increased approximately 5500% overnight from $13.50 to $750 per tablet, Hillary Clinton sent a tweet indicating that she would take on “price gouging” in the pharmaceutical industry and would unveil her plan tomorrow.  Daraprim, which was recently acquired by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start up by Martin Shkreli, the founder and chief executive, is used in treating a life-threatening parasitic infection.  Biotech and big pharma took a big hit as a result.

This morning, we got the latest reading on existing home sales, which fell 4.8% to an annual rate of 5.31 million in August to a median price of $228,700.  This was the first decline in four months, however, it is still close to the post-recession high hit in July. Sales are up 6.2% over the last twelve months. In August, 2.29 million homes were for sale, representing a 5.2 month supply, down 1.7% from the prior earlier.  Low interest rates and lower unemployment are helping get first-time buyers back into the market as they represented 32% of the sales in August, but are still down from highs of approximately 40%.

There is much debate among the talking heads as to whether the steep sell off on Friday was a reaction to the Fed or more a result of quadruple witching.  However, today, Atlanta Fed President Lockhart came out stating that while he supported no increase in September, he does believe there should be an increase this year and that market gyrations are “not my central concern.”

Earlier today, OPEC released a statement that they see oil going higher.  That is helping propel oil today to $46, approximately 3% higher.

We do not see any need to deploy new capital and will continue to sit on the sidelines for now.