Chilly August for Markets?

We start with the markets each day on Varney & Co. This morning Charles Payne spoke to Michael Gurka from investment consulting firm BruinHill Partners.

“I just don’t see the optimism leading this market going forward for the rest of the month,” said Gurka.

Charles then asked Gurka if the sluggishness in the markets is just late-summer doldrums. Gurka responded that the reasons are “clearly economic.”

“I think we’re going to start seeing more numbers skewed towards the way GDP is forecast for the rest of the year,” said Gurka. “We don’t even have to mention employment.”

Forecasters are expecting GDP growth of about 2.5% in the final two quarters of the year, according to the latest MarketWatch survey of economists.

Instead of growing at a 2.4% annualized pace in the second quarter, Real GDP will probably be cut almost in half to a 1.3% annual rate, according to the same survey.

Watch Varney & Co. tomorrow morning for the market’s reaction to the weekly jobless claims data at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.