Stocks declined for a third straight month in October, and recently, we've detected what feels like a notable shift in sentiment among retail investors.

Even inaction can have a reaction: A handful of companies reported third quarter results that were just fine (great, even), but passed up the opportunity to issue upbeat guidance about the months ahead. Let's explore the impacts.

Markets have a habit of humbling investors by doing something unexpected. Today’s environment has provided plenty of reasons for market watchers to stop and scratch their heads quizzically.

Consumer sentiment dropped big, according to a University of Michigan report, owing in large part to stress over inflation. If the Fed suspects that higher inflation expectations are becoming entrenched in consumers' minds, the inflation-fighting equation will almost certainly change.  

The U.S. economy created 336,000 new jobs in September – roughly twice as many as economists expected. That labor-market tightness (coupled with decelerating but still too-hot wage growth) means that it’s probably too soon for the Fed to completely let down its guard with regard to inflation.

Get our perspective on interest rates, bonds in a diversified portfolio, and happenings on Capitol Hill in September's market recap.

The market’s lack of reaction to the government shutdown is by itself interesting for what it says about what matters to investors: Persistent fears that the U.S. economy is lurching its way toward recession. More on the shutdown, housing market and jobs report in this week's edition.

When Fed Chairman Jerome Powell continually warned that the Fed was more inclined to keep rates high longer than markets seemed to expect, investors didn’t really worry too much. Now, the market’s view that the Fed would probably start cutting rates sometime after New Year’s Day looks quite a bit more tenuous than it once did.

Prices at the consumer level rose 0.6% in August, faster than at any point in more than a year. At the producer level, things were even worse: PPI rose 0.7%, also the biggest increase since last summer.

Both “faith” and “credit” took a hit last week, and it’s probably not great news for the economy at the margin. But that other element of the economy that everyone’s so focused on right now – jobs – really didn’t suffer any major blows at all.

Stocks powered higher in July, invigorated by signs that the central bank’s battles against inflation may prove successful without dumping the economy into recession.

A philosophical disagreement about the future path of U.S. growth has sprung up between those who view a recession as unlikely and others who hold onto an apocalyptic prediction. At least one thing is certain: This is the debate that’s currently driving markets.