Alan Ackerman Quotations

We appear to be in a summer swoon in which investors are beginning to realize it's going to take a lot longer to turn the economy around than expected, and that we're currently going to have to bear through a series of pre-announcements that are less than comfortable,

There are continued uncertainties, ... The U.S. economy is slowing and commensurate with that is slowing consumer spending and corporate spending.

We're in a period when capital spending has slowed to a waltz, corporate profitability is hardly visible, and balance sheets are just inundated with debt ? that's not a comfortable picture. Each day is a new adventure in the market. There's lots of money on the sidelines but no willingness to commit.

We're in a light week that's light on news, light on earnings and light on volume, ... Most of the attention is focused on Cisco. The techs have been sprightly but they've left a bit to be desired.

We're beginning to come out of a recession. It's now a matter of just how meaningfully the economy can recover over the next quarter or two,

We're still three-to-four weeks away from second-quarter earnings reports and there's nothing really to light a candle under stocks,

We're still early in the game. I think what we saw was a rally that we've seen before over the last few years. We've had big one-day rallies that didn't really show any sustainability -- so my hope is that the market will hold here.

We're seeing strength in technology and current optimism is based upon inventories worked down -- even Motorola indicated they're making progress in that direction, ... Techs are doing well and people will be combing their lists of stocks to buy for the long-term, but it's going to be a highly selective process.

There are fewer and fewer corporate CEOs who seem bullish on their own business.

We've seen natural gas and energy prices back down. There certainly is no indication that the inventories for oil or natural gas are building in any meaningful way. If OPEC should cut production, we're going to see a rise in oil prices.

We've seen natural gas and energy prices back down, ... There certainly is no indication that the inventories for oil or natural gas are building in any meaningful way. If OPEC should cut production, we're going to see a rise in oil prices.

Lots of money has moved to the sidelines, ... People are not comfortable with the uncertainty ahead, made up of the fact that many of the tech companies keep lowering their guidance.

September will be as difficult for the markets as August as we enter the earnings pre-announcement season,

So far today, we've had an uninspiring, choppy session,

My feeling is the Fed hasn't clearly indicated that it's fighting a slower economy rather than inflation. Economists and individual investors would like to see the Fed cut rates by 75 basis points and I do believe that would take some of the pressure off the consumer.

One more solid salvo from the Fed, combined with a tax cut, could be the combustible combination to get the market going.

One can hardly ignore the strength or weakness of the earnings reports coming out nor can they ignore the slowing state of the U.S. economy.

My current suggestion is to let the dust settle and look for buying opportunities, ... One of my favorites is Pfizer.

Next week will be very tense, full of sadness and recollections about Sept. 11 ... Prudent investors may not want to commit money until after we cross that date.

Negative psychology is building and confidence is eroding, ... We're seeing the deterioration of the desire to buy -- everything is for sale from Main Street to Wall Street.

My sense is that the market is responding to the possibility that a meaningful economic stimulus package will be in place soon that will at least shore up some of the shortfall in capital spending,

My sense is that an earnings recovery is further away than expected and there is no immediate catalyst to turn this market sharply higher. We could have a trading rally, but on balance, people are still nervous about the earnings outlook.

IBM's announcement today hopefully is a harbinger of things to come. Investors need to know there's a sense of value among market leaders. IBM stepped up to the plate, and the market seemed to have rallied on the news and inspired other investors.

IBM's announcement today hopefully is a harbinger of things to come, ... Investors need to know there's a sense of value among market leaders. IBM stepped up to the plate, and the market seemed to have rallied on the news and inspired other investors.

I don't think it signifies very much. We're still in a position of extreme rotation in the markets.

We may have bumped the bottom, but the question is, can we bounce back? Right now, you have a market that has no leadership, has no conviction. I believe more people will be watching the Yankees and the Mets.

We may have bumped the bottom, but the question is, can we bounce back? ... Right now, you have a market that has no leadership, has no conviction. I believe more people will be watching the Yankees and the Mets.

Greenspan's comments did little to build confidence, ... The main catalyst today was to back away from risk and try to buy a bit of stability.

I think it's a constructive move. He's an experienced hand who is clearly effective in dealing with bright, energized thinkers. I don't expect the Senate to have many problems with this nomination.

I think it's a trading rally from an oversold position, ... I don't think there's a lot of conviction behind it.

I think it's bottom-fishing from an oversold condition.

I think the market senses something good going on. On the one hand, the feeling is that the economy is starting to show signs of improvement. But there are plenty of skeptics around who say that feeling may be a little premature, and they are selling on strength,

I think we've been in a type of correction since mid-June.

It gave sellers a chance to lighten up a bit, ... On balance, this just appears to be investors taking a breather.

I think that the wide swings in the market created a lot of pain. We have a lot of walking wounded among portfolio holders. And many institutional types decided to purge problem stocks from their portfolios as a result of the drop we saw earlier in the week. We're really in a week this week that could go in either direction, and again those four variables, the four E's, could affect that.

I think they've run rather quickly, and if anything they're buys on the weakness rather to buy into the upside momentum.

I think there's some concern with the fact that GE is a tough ship to turn around overnight, and that GE's overall picture still remains attractive, but not overly so,

Last week was a bad week for the market, and this week does not look to be more propitious,

People are concerned about higher interest rates ahead and they think the best way to protect themselves is to own growth stocks that may not be as hurt by higher rates,

Retail investors appear to be slower to commit funds to the market this time, ... The market's momentum and volatility has caused some investors to step aside as the market has worked lower.

Stay with the big stocks with the big backlog and big trend of earnings and with management that have been there before,

Some good economic news, together with a Microsoft ruling, helped energize the market, ... While many were disappointed that the Fed's quarter-point cut wasn't larger, the door has been left open for a further Fed move.

I think people are hurting and we're in a market where there is more 'sell' advice than 'buy' advice. Buying is highly selective and still full of risk.

I think people need to be concerned about the length of the technology cycle and the inability of most CEOs and analysts to predict the course of corporate earnings over the next several quarters.

I think gains in the market have outrun fundamentals. The move has been too much too soon. I see the likelihood of a pullback next week.

I think for the moment the big chains are running like elephants. They tend to be behind the cheetahs and the panthers. I think they lumber along, and I think this is not necessarily the time to move. I think the turnaround isn't going to be as routine or orderly as you might expect. I'd want to stay with the strength right now.

It could well be another week of stabilization and consolidation as the market seeks to hold its own, ... We are likely to see some earnings disappointments. Conversely, we're also likely to see some earnings surprises. I'm looking for a market that stays in a reasonably tight trading side.

Most of the retailers are watching their advertising dollars very carefully. This is not going to be an easy period for retailers but it could be worse. Tax refunds are certainly playing some positive role in consumer spending patterns.

While bargain hunters are going to work, the market is still suffering from a low level of consumer confidence, ... I'd be in no hurry to pull the trigger and be a buyer at the moment but I would be building a buy list.

We're carefully watching OPEC. The indication is that crude production, crude daily output is likely to be cut a million to a million and a half barrels,

We're almost worn out with earnings. So many have surfaced of late.

We have more profit warning jitters as the U.S. economy appears to be slowing,

We are in an environment which clearly seems to benefit from a 'feel good' phenomenon.

What you've got now is world markets whipsawing. It's a letdown, not a meltdown.

We had an indication today that the unemployment numbers may be up a bit. Lots of eyes will be on the employment numbers tomorrow (Friday) with the hope that the jobless market will ease just a bit and price pressures may ease along with them.

There is likely to be turbulence ahead. Earnings disappointments are devastating. This is not a time to loosen the safety belts,

The promise of a cut in interest rates before the year's end is a safety net under the market.

Traders and investors feel more comfortable with the value sector of the market, ... What we're seeing is a two-tiered market.

The data is important, but it will take a back seat to concerns about currency devaluations and recessions.

the expectation is there will be a fairly strong stream of earnings disappointments in the second quarter.

The real problem is that until we get through this earnings period, there's going to be an awful lot of skepticism out there about whether or not companies met their objective, and concern over the economy.

We are clearly in a consolidation, whether we are in a correction or not remains to be seen,

When a company reverses itself in this manner, it puts investors ill at ease,

There is a better tone to the market and money is flowing back into both the Dow and the Nasdaq. Many think we've seen the worst and the next interest rate cut by the Fed (Federal Reserve) will help get the economy going.

We had a dull July and August is duller still,

With a market as nasty and negative as it is at the moment, there's little room for error. The Nasdaq has contracted very sharply in a short period of time. Its drop in a year is approximately 60 percent, but this is not representative of all companies that are publicly traded.

While the president may be in trouble, the U.S. economy does not appear to be in trouble as of now. We have a positive economic backdrop, with low inflation, low interest rates On balance, the American economy, while slowing down, continues to be strong.

While the market has taken a big hit today, it's shown some spring back, ... It's a multifarious number of things all working at once.

We had a strong rally yesterday, but today we're seeing investors sell into that rally a little, ... We're in a trading market. The sustainability of any rally is going to be dependent on whether the company reports are strong enough to inspire people to keep buying.

We've had a decided turn from flights of fantasy to a return to reality in terms of valuations, ... They are pressured by high price-to-earnings ratios and ongoing (interest) rate hike concerns.

There doesn't appear to be any reason why this market will break out of its current trading range. Inventories continue to be high and demand does not seem to be as high as it could be.

This was the last chance for the Fed to raise rates in 1997. The market reacted earlier as if nothing would happen, and when the news came we saw some buyers but also some sellers going to work,

What's driving this is techs have gone from terrific to terrible,

What's confounding most people out there is how do you get your hands around earnings, ... there's not that much out there in terms of earnings predictability.

We go into next week with continued uncertainty and wall-to-wall worries. The month of August was full of negative surprises, and September seems to be headed in that direction.

The public is in a semi-shocked state and cash remains on the sidelines on Wall Street despite everything being on sale, ... The main downside pressure seems to be continued earnings disappointments in the tech sector and we had downgrades today that were troublesome.

Warren Buffett has shown the ability to endure. He hasn't lost his touch.

Events like this bring things to a halt and raise a level of shock that is difficult to describe, ... This is a huge catastrophe and it's one that has no parallel in history.

Earnings warnings continue to dent confidence and the price of individual issues, ... This is a market that's nasty and negative. It's difficult to divine if we're reaching a bottom or not.

Enron's quick collapse touched off more aggressiveness by regulators and prompted them to dig more deeply into executive dealings.

Earnings, by and large, are what investors are hanging their hats on, ... Some earnings improvements have prompted some optimism, but we'll know more about that next week.

Essentially we're just completing a week where there appears to be some market stabilization starting to surface,

Even if a trading halt were put in, it might be 'something to do about nothing,' ... This is an orderly drop, rather than one filled with panic.

There's so much doubt out there ahead of this three-day weekend that many players are just selling into the market -- taking their cash and moving to the sidelines,

There's a feeling that oil prices will work higher still. The U.S. is more dependent on foreign imports than it has been in a while, and with oil prices on the rise, buyers moved quickly into oil stocks and energy related stocks,

There's some technology follow- through, ... Some feel that the Fed is chasing a genie that's not yet out of the bottle.

There's some concern that there is inflation in the pipeline, ... And with the dollar's weakness, the stock market traded in a narrow range.

The sands have shifted, ... Wachovia's weakness took the strength out of the financials and Qualcomm has taken quite a hit.

It was a livable number, ... It encouraged some bargain hunters to go to work.

The tech news exacerbates an already negative feeling,

Techs have gone from terrific to tepid to terrible,

Selectivity is likely to be the key of the market. Seasoned players are looking for more value opportunities now. They're looking for stocks that missed the rally.

Right now, there are bulls, there are bears and there are plenty of bewildered. We're trying to get through a period of very complex cross-currents, and so far the market's done remarkably well.

Rate hikes bite different sectors of the economy at different rates. For example, one of the key areas that was hit hard and appears to be slowing down is housing. Consumer spending will take some time to slow down, maybe three to six months out. But in any case, what the Fed is targeting is                   GDP of 5 percent this year and a GDP hopefully next year of closer to 4 to 4-1/4 percent.

The Nasdaq appears to be probing for a bottom, ... The more erratic the Nasdaq is, the more attractive the old economy stocks appear to be for investors who want to be risk averse.

Some sense a climax lies ahead, and others think we're getting close to the bottom,

Apache has outperformed the market. It's up 9.8 percent so far this year, ... Apache is a driller that also benefits from increased business overseas. That means that the lower dollar is a benefit to them. They've got a big find in Egypt. It's an independent oil and gas company that I think has lots of room to run. I wouldn't be afraid to buy it here. It's been a market leader even over the last 12 months.

The big question making the rounds now is: How does one really judge value and are strong first-quarter earnings (expectations) already factored into technology stocks?

Bargain hunters are surfacing today. The feeling going into next year is the economy is going to slow down.

This is still a time to be reasonably cautious. The durability of rallies leaves lot to be desired. People need to be selective in what they choose to buy, and they need to be more internationally aware than they were before.