David Blitzer Quotations

The problem is that instead of having one way to calculate corporate earnings that everybody understands, we have two or three methods. And the one that most people use, there is virtually no agreement at all about what it means.

A change of 7% or 8% in estimated earnings for the S&P 500 is significant, especially if investors are not fully aware of what caused the change.

Clearly, in the extreme case there comes a time when we pull the plug and chuck a company out but we want to keep turnover really low, ... But if a company clearly and substantially violates the addition criteria it's a candidate for removal.

Clearly, if we take a stock out at $2, and 6 months later it's trading at $10, we look silly and people who invest in the index will say, 'I missed a five-times gain'. But in talking to people who run index funds, the vast majority of managers say take the low-priced stocks out,

People will stockpile food, home heating oil if they can buy it.

The bet is that this will not be repeated next month.

It's just a lack of consistency. Companies change the definition quarter to quarter, whichever looks best - that's not a reasonable way to do business.

This was one time hit from oil prices. We knew oil had to go up from an unsustainably low number late last year.

This was one time hit from oil prices, ... We knew oil had to go up from an unsustainably low number late last year.

We've seen in a whole host of reports ... inflation has essentially vanished from this economy.