Stocks dip as earnings season winds down, Fed in focus. U.S. markets are trading lower to begin the Friday session.

August historically has been one of the more volatile months, but 2016 has been anything but that.

Market continues search for direction. Equities are near flat to start the day, following yesterday’s slight advance and yet another day of alternating positive and negative closes.

Today is August 17th. Did you know it happens to be one of the strongest days of the year, up 76.6% of the time?

U.S. markets are little changed in early trading following Tuesday’s session saw all three of the major averages fall near half a percent, with telecom (-2.1%) leading the way down.

Yesterday marked 100 trading days left in 2016, making today a nice chance to reflect on what has happened this year and what might happen for the rest of 2016.