Yellen's speech signals Goldilocks' days are numbered

US STOCKS finished the week and the month of August more or less flat, as what started out as a wild year for the stock market could end up as one of the sleepiest on record.

Even as Wall Street comes back from the last long weekend at the Hamptons, the sluggishness looks set to continue as a survey of the services sector is one of the few highlights of a holiday-shortened week. The peace may last until higher interest rates finally materialise.

Jobs data last week removed any remaining urgency from the September calendar. Some Federal Reserve officials had argued for a rate increase as soon as this month. But the August jobs report, which showed 151,000 workers added to US payrolls, was not strong enough to justify such a move in the eyes of most.