Fact is markets are in engaged in a big game of stalemate. Bulls keep buying every dip, but all rallies are sold and are selling opportunities. Nobody's making any progress whatsoever chasing from headline to headline that are associated with the various daily moves but accomplish previously little in the big scheme of things.

That said one can't shake the sense that this stalemate is soon coming to an end and October may well be the month that provides clarity.

Let's look at the facts and risk factors.

Fun facts:

On October 2, 2018 $DJIA made an all time high with a print of 26824. This past Friday, almost 1 year later, $DJIA closed at 26820. Virtually the same price.

On September 21, 2018 $SPX printed an all time high of 2940.91, last Friday's intra-day low was 2945.53, both data points reflective of the nowhere state of affairs over the past year. That is on the surface. Underneath plenty of things have changed.