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An Alternative To Money Market Funds

September 2025

MARKET OVERVIEW
August continued the market’s strong rebound after a very difficult month of April. That strength has carried over throughout August and into early September with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all reaching all time highs.

Some items of note: Ray Dalio has sold his remaining stake in Bridgewater Associates, HNI will acquire Steelcase in a cash and stock transaction, the Pentagon will become the largest shareholder in MP Materials, former UK Prime minister Rishi Sunak has rejoined Goldman Sachs, Alcon will acquire STAAR Surgical, ESPN has acquired the NFL Network with the NFL obtaining a 10% stake in the all sports network, Claire Stores and Spirit Airlines both filed for bankruptcy again with Spirit filing for the 2nd time in less than a year. Members of the S&P 500 set a Q1 record for stock buybacks with $293 billion announced. Finally, Robinhood, AppLovin and Emcor will join the S&P 500 on Sept 22 replacing Enphase Energy, Caesars Entertainment and MarketAxess.

ECONOMIC SUMMARY
Friday’s Nonfarm Payroll Report was much weaker than forecast as 22,000 jobs were added vs. the estimate of 78,000 jobs.The unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.3% while the U-6 rate rose to 8.1%, up from 7.9% in June. The Labor Participation Rate rose slightly to 62.3%. Average Hourly Earnings rose by 3.7%. The next Nonfarm Payrolls Report for will be released on Friday, October 3.

FEDERAL RESERVE
The Fed kept rates steady at its meeting back on July 29-30. Friday’s weak jobs report and other signs of a slowing economy may prompt the Federal Reserve to cut rates when it meets again on September 16-17. Meanwhile, the central banks of the European Union, Canada and the United Kingdom have all cut rates at several recent meetings while the Fed has stood pat. Fed Chairman Powell has indicated rates might have been cut sooner in the US if not for the concern about the impact of tariffs on inflation. But, oil prices have moved lower which should help ease any inflation pressure.

 

STOCKS TO WATCH
This weekend marks the start of the 2025 National Football League season. Already, there have been a few notable developments which again shows that pro football truly is big business.

Within the past few days, there were reports that Julia Koch will pay $1 billion for a 10% stake in the NFL’s New York Giants, valuing the franchise at $10 billion. Another big development was the recent trade by the Dallas Cowboys of their star Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for two No, 1 draft picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark. Make no mistake, this transaction was motivated by money, plain and simple.

As you may know, yours truly is a certified player agent for the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA). Under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between NFL and the NFLPA, the Cowboys exercised their right to extend Parsons contract by one year under the Fifth Year Option. If a player is drafted by his team in the first round, the player receives a four year guaranteed contract with the compensation spelled out in the CBA based on a negotiated formula. His team has the option to extend the player’s contract by one year with an increase in pay based again on a negotiated formula. The Cowboys informed Parsons earlier this year that they planned to exercise their option for this season. But Parsons wanted to get a new contract rather than play under the Fifth Year option. Clearly, he was under contract.

Even though Parsons was under contract with the Cowboys, he cleverly used a “sit-in” rather than sit out during his dispute with the Cowboys. Normally, when a player sits out, he is fined based upon a negotiated formula under the CBA. In a sit-in, Parsons attended all of the team’s practices and meetings but did not participate in any contact drills citing a back ailment. The Cowboys medical staff examined Parsons several times but could not find any back injury. By cleverly using the sit-in ploy, Parsons was not fined under the current CBA. The Cowboys could file a grievance against Parsons at a later date for his actions here. Undoubtedly, the NFL’s owners will address sit-ins in the next CBA.

The NFL has what is called a hard salary cap. This means that no team, at any point in the season, can exceed this figure for player compensation. This season’s salary cap figure is $279.2 million. The Cowboys currently have quarterback Dak Prescott under contract this season at $60 million while star receiver Cee Dee Lamb is under contract for $34 million in 2025. Parsons was reportedly seeking a contract in the range of $45 million for this season. So, if the Cowboys had agreed with Parsons, then these 3 players would have consumed nearly 50% of this season’s salary cap. It was unworkable. The Cowboys would have been forced to cut several veterans and replace them with first and second year players in order to meet the salary cap regulations. For this reason, the Cowboys had to trade Parsons.

My weekly radio show is now on holiday and should return soon on WWPR 1490 AM. My prior radio shows and columns are available here.

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