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August has recently been a month where negative surprises have a way of interrupting market rallies. This August that wasn’t the case, although it wasn’t for lack of trying on the part of the market gods. Between the trade issues, the tail end of earnings season where reports tend to get weaker, higher inflation readings, the Fed’s Jackson Hole conference, or this week’s attempted firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cook, any of these events could have sparked a volatility fit, but the longer-term history of August calm prevailed, and markets skated through the month with broad based gains, with small-caps leading the way for once. Give it a read!