After returning from the Columbus Day holiday, bond traders bid up the yield on the benchmark 10-year note above 3.25%, a level not seen since 2011. Though higher interest rates tend to weigh on stocks, on the positive side, higher yields benefit savers, who have had significant difficulty finding places to park cash. Also, stocks haven't historically been negatively impacted by higher rates until the 10-year reaches ~5%. (LPL)

Though it ticked lower from August's record high, at 107.9, the NFIB Small Business Index came in at its third-highest level in the survey's 45-year history and is the longest streak of small business optimism in history, helped by the recent tax cuts and fiscal policy changes. Among the highlights, a record percentage of small business owners reported raising compensation, and data showed a pickup in investment spending and expectations for higher sales volumes. (LPL)

The Kaiser Family Foundation released report found “insurers in the individual health insurance market performed better financially in the first six months of 2018 than they have in all of the years of the Affordable Care Act.”

With Northwest Quadrant Wealth Management, a Registered Investment Advisor I am Troy Reinhart.