Richard Cripps Quotations

It's the analogy of the straw and the camel's back. We keep loading the camel's back with straw and higher energy prices and interest rates. It's probably going to be what's good for oil is going to be bad for the rest of the market.

We're looking at a 12 percent decline in earnings this year for the S&P 500, and that's the sharpest decline we've had since the last recession. The confidence level that one has in looking at those earnings is very low.

The question today is more opportunistic. The question is exactly where can I be a buyer of America Online ( AOL ) or some of these other stocks that have been weakened?

Good earning growth. Next year, their earnings will be about $1.90 (per share). That's just 10 times this year's current stock price.

But I think that the global picture in 1995 was a little bit more murky than it is today. Economy was slower than today. As we look at the world scene it is actually quite good. A lot of foreign economies are expected to grow a little bit faster than the U.S. economy this year. So that is a major difference. And again it probably keeps the Fed from decreasing or cutting interest rates anytime soon.

It's all driven by Microsoft at this point.

I think if you are bullish here, you go back and look to the last time the Fed eased up on interest rates which was 1995, which, of course, was a good year for investors. The S&P shot up almost 35 percent. So using that as a guide, some investor think that is what we're going to see.

Putting it in context, it wasn't a great display of bullishness one would assume.

I would let this play out as opposed to trying to be brave and buying here.

People want to own these (technology) stocks. And that's what limits any significant drop on these stocks and it's what puts pressure on the remainder of the market.