Unless energy prices ease, the holiday shopping season will probably be mediocre at best.
The fact that oil is remaining above $40 leaves me all the more convinced that core CPI will continue to climb higher, that we're on the verge of having the annual rate break above 2 percent.
I don't think it's going to stop. It may be a fine opportunity to lock in a fixed rate that may prove to be relatively attractive historically.
If the government's so smart, then why haven't corporations done this a long time ago? Corporations have actually stepped up 30-year bonds because they think they will minimize borrowing costs over time.
What we have here is a dangerous mix of fast-growing debt and fast-rising unemployment that could quickly put the brakes on consumer spending.
He didn't give the impression that the Fed is panicking.
I think the bottom right now is perhaps about 5-3/4 percent and that is contingent on further weakness in East Asia that adds to uncertainty regarding the U.S. economy in 1998.
I think there's a very good chance we could see the Federal funds rate rise to at least 5.25 percent by year's end, ... If not up to 5.5 percent, which would be a complete reversal of late 1998's three-staged reduction.
I think this testimony is much more confident. His worry that the improvement will not be sustained is less pronounced.
We have some hint that the tax rebate program just might be able to pull the economy out of its funk,
The credit market right now is bracing for some bad news. Yields should continue heading higher until the U.S. economy slackens appreciably.
We can talk about GDP, but what does that mean to most people? The everyday American has a better handle on where the Dow is today, where it was not long ago and where it was at its peak.
Don't rush out to buy long-term bonds as rates are rising unless you're convinced that the economy is going to slow significantly.
Five years of having equity market growth of 25 percent a year seems to be a thing of the past. The law of long-term averages is reasserting itself.
is in no hurry to go ahead and increase interest rates.
It would help to put in a bottom if we had a clearer idea of what may happen in Iraq,
The super-sized issue from AT&T reminds us of how . . . investor demand for long-term investment-grade corporate bonds is very strong. Corporate America has more than offset (the) reduction in federal borrowing . . . brought on by the emergence of the federal budget surplus.
This could mark a turning point. After all, the Fed was right, the latest slowdown was temporary and the economy is about to gain speed going into the second half of 2005, which would imply that more rate hikes lie ahead.
This could be interpreted as evidence of a still soft, sluggish economy.
This brings the possibility of steeper-than-anticipated gains in profits.
They're perhaps encouraged by the improved measures of corporate financial health. We've had relatively brisk growth by profitability ever since early 2002.
It makes sense to sell 30-year bonds now. This is an attractive opportunity to extend maturities.
The Fed will eventually move to a neutral stance, and I don't think we're there yet. When we start to see payrolls of 200,000 a month, I expect the yield on the 10-year note will hit 4.5 percent and the Fed will become less patient.
The underlying theme (in the Fed's statement) is the same but the Fed added the statement on the potential for higher inflation risks in order to reassure global investors that the Fed very much remains committed to pursuing price stability.
The troubling fact is that even if we take out the effect of the hurricane, we're still left with a lackluster increase in personal income for the month of August.
The economy is doing better, but where is profitability?
The market is really worried about events abroad and what may go on at home,