As we move into the weekend and finish up on the Friday financial markets today thoughts move to capital preservation in our portfolios. One possibility is hedging for protection. It begs the question of what could happen to affect the market. Concerns for the weekend and a Monday market open follow:

Disappointing economic data from China, a major global economy, with imports rising only 8.4% in April versus expectations of a larger increase. This could dampen investor sentiment about global economic growth prospects.

A surprising spike in U.S. weekly jobless claims to 231,000 from 209,000 the previous week, hitting the highest level since last August. This signals potential weakness in the labor market, which could negatively impact consumer spending and economic growth.

Warnings from major tech companies like Intel about potential sales declines due to export license revocations for China. Weakness in the influential tech sector could weigh on the broader market.

Concerns about the ongoing real estate crisis in China, with even major developers like China Vanke seeing significant share price declines, signaling the depth of the property market troubles.

Geopolitical tensions or any escalation of conflicts that could disrupt global trade and economic activity over the weekend.

Will any of this affect the market? Who knows? We just have to manage based on capital preservation to avoid those gab downs in the market that we hate to experience.

Lt Col Charlie Brown COL Randall C. MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. CPT Jack Durish Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen CSM Charles Hayden 1SG Russell S. MSG Roy Cheever SFC John D. @SSG James Phelps SGT (Join to see) Cpl Vic Burk