Looking back, August brought little change to markets. Beneath seemingly quiescent waters, dramatic and momentous events took center stage. First, Charlottesville gripped the nation, a total eclipse captivated every age, and the month gave its farewell with a deluge of rain and misfortune in Texas. During all that, geopolitical tensions intensified as North Korea continued its repugnant behavior. We now head into arguably the worst market month, September.