September Trading Rocked By More Seasonal Volatility

It was a volatile week for the major benchmarks, keeping with September's historically rocky market trends. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rebounded from last week's slump by snapping a five-day losing streak. Tuesday, however, the blue-chip index notched a triple-digit loss, despite upbeat inflation data, while the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) were also drowning in red ink.  A large portion of those losses were covered the next day, as the middle of the week's session ended in solid gains for the major indexes, with sentiment boosted by promising manufacturing data. The fickle week carried on Thursday, and the Dow once again slipped lower, after higher-than-expected weekly jobless claims overshadowed a surprise gain in August retail sales. The broader market is diving even deeper today, and at last check, all three benchmarks on track for weekly losses. 

Tech Stocks Making Moves

Plenty of tech names were in the spotlight this week, starting with China-based Alibaba (BABA) stock, which was pressured lower as China's government continues to crack down on regulations. Both blue-chip member Salesforce.com (CRM)and Crowdstrike (CRWD) pulled back to a historically bullish trendlines, with the latter poised for more record highs. Elsewhere, bull notes gave Cisco (CSCO) and SoFi Technologies (SOFI) a boost, while Oracle (ORCL) received a round of post-earnings price-target hikes. Microsoft (MSFT) made headlines this week, after the launch of a $60 billion stock repurchase program, while Dell (DELL) was added to Goldman Sachs' "Conviction Buy" list.