John Davidson Report Quotations

I suspect people have started to recalculate their positions going into the jobs report and they don't want to be short -- they want to be fully invested. If the numbers really follow what we've seen for the initial jobless claims, it could be positive for the market.

I think the most significant report for the whole week is the retail sales number tomorrow. You saw the bond market react today in expectation of a strong retail sales report, and I think people will be focused on that tomorrow.

I think people are looking beyond the unemployment report and into the future, ... The current economic environment is certainly weak, but maybe there's the assumption that it will get better.

The payrolls report would typically be the week's big event, but I think people are having a hard time with the report, because forecasts are all over the place due to confusion about the impact of the hurricanes.

Despite the decline, the ISM report was very positive, and what you can take away from it is that the economy is continuing to expand. The question for 2004 is whether that continued expansion has already been reflected in the 25 percent returns you saw in stocks last year.

If you look out into next week, you've got the weapons report from inspectors due and the current view is that people may be reluctant to put money to work ahead of that.

For the last several weeks, the market has gotten ahead of the economic news. You're seeing that with the jobs report this morning. For stocks to continue to climb, you need to see the economic news start to catch up.