Larry Wachtel Rate Quotations

We have good earnings today, but there's just too much good economic news. We're increasing the likelihood of a rate hike in June. The data are coming in stronger than expected, so the Street is expecting another hike. The better the news, the more likely the Fed will tighten. It's a strange phenomenon that good news can be bad news.

Attention will be focused on the statement that follows the 2:15 p.m. ET rate announcement, as it will give us a better indication on the Fed's future course of action. Noteworthy is that the tendency has been for the market to rally ahead of the Fed meeting and to sell-on-the-news after the announcement, ... While the market is advancing, it is on light volume due to this being a Monday in the slow month of August in front of tomorrow's economic policy uncertainty.

A quarter-point rate hike would send a message of steady as she goes.

There were a couple of one-shot deals in the PPI -- auto prices and tobacco prices. If you took those two items out, the core rate was up 0.1. That's the reason why the markets have come back a little. I've analyzed the numbers and realized that this is not inflation out of control.

The differentiation is where the recession is coming from. When you're in a consumer-housing situation, the rate cuts have a very dramatic effect and hit much sooner. But when you're in a manufacturing recession involving overcapacity and inventory overhang, it's not going to make people borrow.