Stocks closed lower again yesterday. The next FOMC meeting isn't until December 13-14, but inflation concerns remain front and center.

Comments by Fed Chair, Jerome Powell last week, sent stocks soaring, after strongly hinting that the Fed was prepared to slow their tightening pace from 75 basis points to 50 basis points. Those came in the wake of moderating CPI and PPI readings.

But last Friday's Employment report showed not only a stronger than expected labor market, but also higher than expected wage growth. Some fear the latter type of inflation is even harder to tamp down.

Yesterday's comments by Jamie Dimon didn't help either. He echoed his "economic hurricane" comments he made back in June. Yesterday he acknowledged that businesses are in good shape and that consumer spending is still strong. But he followed that up with "inflation is eroding everything I just mentioned". And warned that inflation could drag us into a recession and "it could be a hurricane."

Stocks rallied in June shortly after his first hurricane comments. We'll see what happens this time after his second hurricane comment.

Also not helping the market are regular reports of CEO's announcing layoffs and less hiring. In one sense, that's good news from a macro point of view. In order to slow down inflation, you need to slow down the economy. But it can be hard to cheer layoffs when you read it in a headline.

In other news, our International Trade in Goods and Services report showed our trade deficit grew in October to -$78.2 billion vs. September's -$74.1B, as imports increased and exports decreased. Although, it did come in under the consensus for -$80.0.

Today we'll get MBA Mortgage Applications, the Productivity and Costs report, and Consumer Credit.

And we'll see if the market can regroup, and try and extend its gains from the last 2 weeks. Or if more profit taking and position squaring are in store.

See you tomorrow,