Looking Ahead 30 Aug 2026

A level is an old price Cash is the position. What we are watching the week of August 31, and through September.

As of Friday, August 28, we are in cash. That is the whole position. This note is what we are watching next week and through September, and the rule we use to watch it.

A level is a price a stock has already bounced from or stalled at. We mark those old prices ahead of time. Then we wait. We do not buy because a story sounds good. We do not buy in the middle of a run. We wait for the stock to come back to a cheap area we already wrote down. If it never comes back, we sit. Sitting is the work.

Before we look at any single stock, we look at the Nasdaq. We use QQQ for that. We already marked a band from 660 to 680. If QQQ is below that band, we do not buy the names on our list, even if one of them looks cheap. Last Friday QQQ closed at 716. Last week’s low stayed above 680. So we are allowed to work names. That is not a reason to buy QQQ. We do not trade QQQ that way. It only tells us whether the rest of the list is even in play.

Next week the print that can move that band is Friday’s jobs report. In September the other one is the Fed meeting on the 15th and 16th. Inflation data around September 11 can move yields before that meeting. A speech does not change the plan.