Gary Thayer Looks Quotations

Policy-makers have been worried that rising energy costs could lead to higher prices for other things including higher wages and compensation, but it looks like companies are keeping their employment costs in check.

Today's numbers show that consumers are not very optimistic about the economy. As a result, we will see consumer spending reduced until we see some relief on energy prices. If we don't get some relief, it looks like it will be a very weak holiday season.

The decline in the prices paid component is good news. It looks as if we're seeing some moderation in pricing pressures, but not a significant drop.

The good news is that what we've seen is an unchanged reading for the nonpetroleum items and it looks like what we're still seeing is lower prices for many consumer items.

They're very good numbers. It's telling us the manufacturing sector of the economy is clearly in recovery. It looks like we had not only a strong March but an even better February than the government previously estimated.

It just looks like manufacturing in the Midwest cooled off a bit in January, but remained healthy.

It looks like these numbers are consistent with a small decline in fourth quarter GDP,

It looks like the economy is still quite healthy and the Fed is probably following the appropriate course. The economy doesn't need low interest rates.

It looks like the economy is stabilizing after the hurricane-related stresses and we're heading into the holidays with an upturn in confidence that is encouraging and bodes well for the good consumer spending over the next month or so.

It looks like real spending was quite healthy for the start of the third quarter.

It looks like we will have about a half-million lost jobs from the hurricanes and we have now seen the lion's share of that.

It looks like consumers will be in a more giving mood, I don't think they will spend with abandon. There are still some tight financial problems for many people. We probably will see active shopping for bargains.

It looks like consumers are feeling at least better about the current situation. But I still think there is a lot of uncertainty about the future. The geopolitical news is not very comforting.

If you put the two months together it still looks as if retail sales were strong at the beginning of the year -- an average increase of 0.8 percent for each of the two months.

But it looks like Mr. Greenspan is saying the slowdown in the economy will be short-lived and that suggests that the Fed will probably continue to raise rates.

The housing market is cooling off, but not too much, and inflation looks relatively benign.

The increases (in gas prices) looks like it's hitting a critical level.