Marc Pado Quotations

There is no question that the tone has turned more positive. We haven't broken out yet, but the markets are poised. Now all we need is for the news to hit the ball out of the park, and it needs to be perfect. Crude is still high and the yield curve is still flat, but the market's focus is on other things right now.

What we need is to hear from companies that take the pulse of the consumer. Tech will be one of those groups. Retailers will be another.

Net-net, there's probably plenty of oil in the market. OPEC left production quotas, so that's a plus for the market this morning.

Obviously the Iranian thing is a wild card and nothing's going to get resolved in the short term, but the earnings are really what's key to the market and any longer-term perspective.

Post 'quadruple-witching', it would not be unexpected to see the market settle down a bit.

Nobody likes to fail in the fourth quarter. There are going to be companies that did well in the holiday season and they will be able to add to gains.

From now on, strong economic numbers threaten another rate hike. Weak numbers point to profit disappointments. What the bull market needs is a catalyst, which would likely need to be a break in energy and basic materials prices.

Had it not been for the impressive January same-store sales reports, decent forward-looking statements and the big drop in energy prices, the market drop would have been far worse. With the understanding that we needed to keep our eyes on wage pressures and productivity, both of those components suddenly soured investors on the idea that the Fed was truly done.

We are facing a large number of Katrina-related warnings, ... The market is just coming to realize that it is going to be a tough September.

It is a domino effect of negative news.

The 10-year has been trying to anticipate the fed funds rate. As soon as (Fed policy-makers) made it clear that they weren't going to stop at 4.75 percent, there was a big jump.

Most everyone has rather positive expectations for double-digit (corporate earnings) growth for the first quarter. That is already 'baked in the cake'.

Mergers are looking to help us hold our ground today.

While we would like to see a follow-through day, the positive implications from yesterday's rally should help reinforce a support under the market at Tuesday's intraday lows. Weakness in same-store retail sales and continued strength in crude will represent the first obstacles for the bulls today.

Yesterday was perhaps as technically disappointing as last Friday.

With the tax date deadline, you're getting money flows coming into the market.

We're not going to feel the impact of these rate hikes for quite some time.

Yields, especially on the long end, have been dogging the market in recent weeks. And retail sales down more than expected shows enough of a slowing to question whether or not the Fed needs to continue to act.

Those very short-term support levels were broken yesterday, but the supports under the current levels are substantial. Now that the Fed has made it clear that we will see one if not two more rate hikes, the uncertainty has been removed. We expect the focus to shift to first-quarter earnings results, and they are expected to be good.

Every time investors think the Fed is going to be one-and-done, they rally the market 100 points. Yesterday was no exception. The potential for an additional 25 basis points in June faded from over 50% to about 28%. That gave the market the added juice it needed to penetrate serious overhead supply.

Even though the figures were revised slightly lower, investors were relieved because the data won't provide the Fed with an excuse to continue raising rates past January.

Earnings will be the main focal point, although the rumbling is already starting about the upcoming FOMC meeting.

The Santa Claus rally is clearly underway. I expect to see the bulls carry the averages to new 4 1/2 year highs right into next Friday's close.

The momentum has swung in favor of the bulls, but we need to keep it going or it will look like another failed attempt at new high ground.

And the forward-looking statements that companies are likely to give will probably be restrained given all the negatives that companies see: rising interest rates, rising mortgages, a lot of concern.

The bulls have some work to do today.

The bulls had a real opportunity. Earnings continue to roll in, and for the most part they are in-line or better than expected.

This morning stocks are looking to start the day slightly lower.

It's a little bit (bond) positive because GDP did rise as expected.

It looks like some seasonal New Year's buying will give the market a bullish start, but this January faces many negative technical obstacles.

It's probably going to be the one event in the afternoon that sets the tone for how we finish.

It will impact the Dow but on broader basis it won't do much to the market. I think there are much bigger factors today such as the semiconductor index above its 200-day moving average and it faces some cautious comments out of Merrill,

It will take some strong earnings and bullish forecasts, as well as positive economic data, to keep the rally going. There are plenty of economic data and earnings releases to sway market opinion from hour to hour and day to day. Behind it all, there is the rising threat of geopolitical tensions with Iran and higher interest rates out of the Federal Reserve.

The negative productivity number we saw today about the fourth quarter raises fears that companies are not going to be able to absorb those costs.

Any time you remove uncertainty, it's good news for the market. Having raised the question, the market has shifted its attention to Greenspan from earnings.

Any time you remove uncertainty, it's good news for the market,

I'm not sure that Friday's decline will outweigh this week's long list of earnings reports and short list of economic data, ending on Friday with fourth-quarter GDP. Crude is making investors nervous, and by the end of the week, the FOMC meeting on the following Tuesday will also be a major cause for concern.

If you're going into the worst year of a four-year cycle and heading into one of the worst months statistically of the year, then it seems like a likely opportunity for the market to see its 10 percent correction.

If you're down 10 percent and you time it appropriately, then you could be up 18 percent at the end of the year as opposed to 8 percent. That's why I'd look at whether the economic signals corroborate the technical signals.

In the war of rates vs. oil, one would have to say that oil is winning out. Concerns of further rate increases are coming to fruition, yet the market has continued to push higher. Energy prices have fallen quickly and have taken out several trading support levels.

Internally, the market's bounce left something to be desired. Since the market went out on the high of the day, it should have some morning momentum left. The real question is whether or not it can be sustained without any major earnings-, economic-, or oil-moving news.

By the end of this week, the attention will shift to the December employment report and then on to earnings starting next week. By the end of the month, earnings and forward-looking projections will be what needs to step up to the plate if the market is to continue the rally.

The market had been ignoring the recent run in crude, brushing it off as temporary emotional buying as a hedge against economic sanctions against Iran. Whatever the reason, oil is back up against all-time highs, and that was making the markets nervous.

Airlines and industrials are gaining from lower oil. Discounters are responding not only to a drop in oil prices but also to Wal-Mart's statement that it will meet September sales expectations despite higher gasoline prices.

The headline number probably isn't as important as the wages and average hours worked. Earnings are still the main driving force, and the jobs number is just a hurdle in our path.

The market will be swimming upstream against a small current. We are still seeing a market rally that has not broken any key technical supports, but there are crack in the foundation. If they start to see selling on the news by the end of the day, that, too, is a warning sign that this rally is nearing an end.