Fed Quotations | Page 2

Worker productivity generally creates a scenario where employees realize they can begin to demand more for what they do. While the year-over-year productivity gains are still quite good, there is some evidence that wage inflation may be starting to creep in. The Fed won't like this.

We're still in an environment where the Fed is likely to raise interest rates and the Bank of Japan won't for six months at the earliest. The interest-rate differential is likely to widen and that will be bad for the yen.

We're still going to get Japanese rates at zero for some time yet. The Fed continues to underpin the view that more rate hikes are highly probable, and yield premiums favor the dollar in the short term.

We're still getting more negatives on the economic front today, and this is a period where we're really looking for economic growth to avoid a Fed rate cut.

We're still expecting the Fed to hike one more time and take a pause. The momentum for dollar weakening has been established and is well-entrenched.

We're starting to see the savings rate pick up from near historic levels, which is very encouraging. Though we don't expect Fed tightening to work overnight, we are starting to see some of the early results of the significant tightening we've seen to date.

We're seeing some evidence of some slowing in the economy, which is a good thing, but we need a little longer time to call it a trend. And I think that is what the Fed is watching too,

We're seeing interest in cash for the first time since 2001, practically, and we expect the interest to only grow as rates continue to rise. Yields are still digesting the Aug. 9 Fed hike and be- ginning to anticipate an almost certain Sept. 20 rise, so we should see yields break through 3 percent and keep going.

We're seeing a nice handful of earnings today. That is going to be the driver. The other driver, or the thing that's not going to hold us back this quarter, and I would argue has held us back the last three quarters, is the consensus is the Fed is done for the year, ... We don't have a credit tightening cycle to go through and we're seeing terrific earnings. So I would argue that the focus returns now to earnings growth, revenue growth, the strength of corporate America and not necessarily the macro-economic themes like monetary policy which have been on the forefront for the last couple of quarters.

We're seeing a little profit taking ahead of all the data. But as long as it comes in reasonably strong I'd say people will be looking for the Fed to keep raising rates in May and even beyond, and the dollar to start rising again.

We're seeing a cautious market because of the Fed meeting. There are a lot of events the markets need to sort through, and the most important one is Mr. Greenspan.

We're right back in a bear market mode, waiting for the Fed to tighten.

We're looking for rates to end the year at 2.0 percent and we expect the Fed to speed up its tightening next year.

We have seen a softer tone in their write-ups. I think there is a real sense that the Fed is going to stay on the sidelines.

We have to get used to the fact that the emergency level of the fed funds rate is behind us, ... The sooner we become cognizant of the fact that the global economy won't be crushed and corporate earnings won't roll over, the sooner the market will fight its way to trend higher.

We have to get these interest rate increases behind us and the Fed did hold off this last time, but I think there's still a possibility of another rate increase later in the year. And that's weighing on investor's minds. Earnings have slowed down a little bit. The interest rate increases to date have had an effect and we're seeing some earnings disappointments at some companies and that has investors concerned. But on the other hand, we have the mergers and acquisitions that tend to buoy up the prices in whatever sectors affected from one day to the next and that will keep investors interested in stocks certainly.

What these numbers have done this morning is raise a question: Does the Fed have the nerve to raise by 50 basis points (a half percentage point) next week?

Whenever we have the Olympics or the Fed Cup, our schedule becomes very tight and I couldn't play the last couple of years. Everything is fine with me this year.

When you see all three coming together you must be alert, ... The mission of the Fed is to be sensitive to these pressures.

When your horse is out there and pitches his butt off, my job is to nail it down, ... We would've liked to have fed off Jake's energy. The kid threw the heck out of the ball.

We'll see one more hike certainly, perhaps two, but as the Fed keeps saying now, the future course of interest rates will depend on the data. We're not on cruise control anymore.

We are all waiting for some indications from the Fed that says, 'Okay enough pain,'

We are all fed from hundreds and thousands of hands. Often we do not know whose they are nor how they work. Only a few of us ever visualize the hands that grope in the coal mines or push levers in the mills or handle axes in the lumber camp.

Way too many people have been saying this. I'm even getting people asking if the Fed is buying stocks, which is just too weird.

This will probably be of great satisfaction to the Fed and will convince them that economic growth is on track without worrying them that interest rates are seriously too low.

We want the economy to be strong, but we don't want it to be too strong because we want the Fed to come to the end of their rate-hiking cycle.

What we're assuming is that as the Fed hikes rates, the bond market gets pulled along.

There is a real possibility that measured will be gone from the statement but that's not necessarily to say that the Fed is becoming more hawkish,

There is a possibility the Fed may raise rates three more times to 4.5 percent before pausing, to keep inflation under control.

There are multiple factors influencing bond prices right now, not the least of which is the uncertainty about what the Fed is going to do going forward.

There are some studies going on now in Missouri on penned birds where they were fed a certain number of lead shot. They've found that if they ingest even a small number of shot, they have a very low survival rate.

There are some pretty good underlying fundamentals of the U.S. economy. A good Philadelphia Fed number will confirm the U.S. economy is solid and boost the dollar.

There are some people who would like to see the Fed raise by a half-percentage point when it meets next, so it's really hard to determine what kind of Fed move would be seen as either good or bad for the market.

There are some indicators suggesting a bit of a slowdown. That could cause the Fed to pause. The key is about how the Fed talks about the economy, if they talk about weakness worldwide and rising oil prices.

There are expectations that the Fed will cut rates, which may allow Brazil's Central Bank to do the same.

We deem this action representative of a market that has lost the flurry of last week's panic buying and instead is rethinking its view as to the near-term motivation of the Fed and the impact of Katrina.

We've been in this environment several times. Now we use it to our advantage. We fed off the crowd, and the crowd fed off us.

We really don't think its necessary for the Fed to take action, ... If there's inflation in the economy, we really don't see it.

We ran the whole gamut of emotion. We fed off these fans all the way.

Yesterday's fall fed today's rise, but the market still has no definite direction.

Yes, I think it's going to be a fantastic buy. I think we're going to pack the whole year's Super Bowl rate-of-gain, which tend to average 16 percent during the last 18 years, compound annual growth of the S&P 500, 16 percent a year. We've had zero so far and the outlook is improving very, very significantly for the worst worry that people have had. And that is the Fed rate-hiking. It really looks like the probability is increasing dramatically that the Fed rate hikes are over and inflation pressure is in check. And as that continues to happen through year-end, we can get a fantastic rally, 15 to 20 percent on the S&P 500 in three months.

We've seen very satisfactory earnings growth. There's a hope that the Fed is close to the end of its tightening campaign.

We've seen some selling earlier this week, but a good number will show the general strength of the U.S. economy and help the dollar. Payrolls will be the key indicator as far as the Fed is concerned.

We've seen some gyrations in expectations due to the whipsaw that we've seen in the economic data. We're looking for two more increases. At that point, the Fed must be a little bit cautious and take into account the lagged effect of previous rate hikes.

The CPI will still have an influence on the Fed meeting. You are in a bear market in technology stocks and you'll have to accept that. You're not going to get anything significant until the second half of the year.

The CPI will still have an influence on the Fed meeting, ... You are in a bear market in technology stocks and you'll have to accept that. You're not going to get anything significant until the second half of the year.

The CPI report was very tame. It sort of reflects the comments by Alan Greenspan that even though monetary policy is way too expansive right now, inflation is sufficiently a non-event, a non-problem, so the Fed obviously can wait at this point,

We've still got a lot of job growth, but it's not pressuring the unemployment rate, ... That's a critical thing for the Fed -- between the unemployment rate and the nice average hourly earnings rate figure, which was up only a penny, I think the Federal Reserve will breathe pretty easily with this report.

The problem with the Greenspan Fed is that it has been a 'make it up as you go along' Fed. There is no philosophy with Greenspan. He changes his mind about all of this stuff.

The problem with retaining your flexibility is you also create uncertainty. I'd be very pleased if the Fed took some new initiatives, but I'm not expecting it.

There are a lot of crosscurrents now, but falling yields might indicate that demand for credit is slowing down and that the Fed, by holding the fed funds rate where it is, is actually keeping rates all along the curve from falling to their equilibrium level, or to the level where would they would more naturally go.

The reality is that if the Fed raises interest rates by a quarter of a point all that's doing is serving to keep inflationary pressures under control.

There is a lot of economic news to digest between now and the next meeting. If we see economic signs that are positive, then that would encourage the Fed to stay on the course of gradual rate hikes, but if things slow down then maybe they would skip a meeting or two.

There is certainly nothing from the core inflation numbers to egg the Fed on to keep tightening.

The producer price numbers on Wednesday and the productivity number on Friday are the most important events we have ahead of the Fed meeting. There's still some uncertainty in the market about what the Fed will do and those numbers will be key to figuring that out.

We're growing vigorously, and I think that the bond market is right to be a little bit concerned about this. It's not the data we've gotten, but the data we didn't get. We didn't get a slowdown in the second quarter. That, I think, is going to make the Fed very nervous.

This puts 5.25% on the fed funds rate back on the table. It's not the job of anyone to interpret what a market's reaction to a comment will be. This has added volatility on a day-to-day basis, so opinions can change that quickly when they shouldn't. It's great to be flexible, but it's not healthy to investors.

There are very, very strong opinions on both sides of the fence on what the Fed is going or not going to do. The bottom line is with such diversity of opinions that the market is going to be choppy and volatile.

There are very early signs of (a manufacturing slowdown), but I don't think they're conclusive enough to halt the Fed from tightening policy further, ... But I think, ultimately, with the economy running hot and inflation on a clear upswing, we see headline inflation moving towards and perhaps even surpassing 3 percent as we head into next year.

The psychology is just not there for the economy to make any substantial move until we get through the Fed meeting. There's really no selling pressure, it's just tremendous volatility.

The primary focus of the markets right now is when and if the Fed will stop raising interest rates, to the point that equities are rallying right now with crude oil almost at $65 a barrel.

The prices paid is still way up there, inflation is still running a little hot, enough that the Fed will continue to raise interest rates.

The prices paid component plays into fears that the Fed may be behind the curve.

We needed 20 percent economic growth in the third quarter to get rid of all of the excess capacity in the economy. The Fed is still going to be concerned about disinflation.

We need clear evidence that the economy is growing very strongly for the Fed to raise rates above 4.5 percent if you want to get much further gains in the dollar.

When we started the year, the markets were reticent to buy into either a strong U.S. economy or the Fed raising rates to 5 percent. What has changed is the market's very stubborn resistance to accepting the fact that the dollar has a pretty high carry compared to the rest of the world.

When the time comes for the Fed to have these meetings over the next six months, the situation will look different and they will actually keep raising rates.

When the rubber meets the road, this statement doesn't change anything, ... The Fed will continue to increase rates. The only thing that we do know is that they will continue on a tightening mode.

The place was crazy, and we just fed off that. The fans gave us the energy that we needed.

There are two key challenges to the U.S. market: one is Fed policy -- and it's still our concern that the Fed will be increasing rates this side of Christmas; secondly, it's the slowing corporate earnings outlook. Although corporate earnings are still probably going to rise, I think there's a concern that numbers may come in below consensus and drive the markets down.

We're just fed up and want our voice to be heard by city council and the company. We're willing to settle in a fair and equal manner. But right now our biggest concern is the city officials, and we want to see some accountability.

Like everyone, we are looking for a 25 basis point hike from the Fed and people will be looking for clues on whether that's it for the year.

Like everyone else, we expect a quarter-point hike in fed funds today to 4.75 percent -- we also expect the statement to be softened.

Louis had a phenomenal final four defensively. It seemed like he fed on it as the game went on. He made it hard for Jon to get the ball.

Leading the effort in representing our country in Fed Cup is a great responsibility and an opportunity for which I am very grateful. Being a part of the U.S. Fed Cup team as a player and coach provides a perspective on what it takes to build a championship caliber team and I am looking forward to the challenge.

Many moms feel kids should be fed at home by mother ? in a perfect world that would work, but in reality that just doesn't happen.

Many of our sophomores have been here before, and they set the tone by hitting some shots early. The rest of the team fed off that.

Many people have been fed up with judges for many years and for many different reasons, such as prayer in school, abortion, and capital punishment.

Sentiment is building that the Fed may pause for a while after raising rates to 5 percent next month. That helps shorter-maturity debt, especially two-year notes.

Sen. Menendez has a 6-point lead in his race for re-election mainly because New Jersey is a Democratic state more fed up with the Bush administration and the war in Iraq than it is with high taxes and the budget crisis at home.

Semiconductors are fed by PCs and telecom. In PCs we have seen a wave. Somewhere around June people were optimistic PCs would rebound. And we saw in June orders picking up. In July, they fell back because PCs are not picking up. They are staying flat,

Solid earnings reports are helping to put in a bit of a floor in the market. But the sensitivity here to the economic data given the question about the outlook for Fed tightening, that seems to be the overriding influence.

She spoke the most beautiful classical Arabic and no one understood her. I got fed up with her and the idolatry around her.

Shrugging off statements by the Fed last week, mortgage rates remained relatively more stable than bond market yields. Without a key indicator that would move it one way or another, the financial market is in something of a state of limbo.

Shortly after that, we got a couple of power-play goals because we fed off of those penalty-kills. That was the story of the night, the penalty-killing.

Simply because the Fed is maintaining an accommodative monetary policy position doesn't mean they keep the fed funds rate at one percent indefinitely,

Since the economy is softening, I expect inflationary pressures to subside. The door is still open for the Fed to continue easing rates, as necessary.

Most of these kids grew up in church and they've been fed and everybody's been giving to them. But just to see the smile on their face when they get to reach out to somebody else and show the love of Jesus, it's something they'll never forget.

Most people expect the Fed to raise rates, but there are some skeptics out there who may sell dollars. Everybody is waiting for the Fed, needless to say.

Most people expect that the Fed will hike short-term rates more than the 10-year (yield) will go up this year.

Most people were afraid that we'd start to see some inflation, but I don't think there's much here. The Fed still has its foot on brakes and will keep tapping them at regular intervals, but perhaps not as much as investors had been expecting.

Most people think the Fed is on hold so the rest of this month's data is not quite as important.

Most people at the Fed seem to feel that the national economy is strong enough to absorb the effects of Katrina. That to me seems that you will not see the Fed rate hike derailed.

Minutes from the December 13 FOMC meeting point to downside risk to our call that the funds rate target will reach 5 percent in May. Fed officials sound confident on growth, but more dovish on inflation.

Momentum for the yen is good. Fukui's comments and this newspaper report fed speculation about a March policy move, increasing the chances of a rate hike by the end of the year.

Much of the dollar's move is coming from uncertainty as to what is going to happen with the Fed, ... There is speculation the Fed can pause, or they will raise rates but release a fairly dovish statement, putting rate hikes after September in doubt.

Movements in the unemployment rate will tell Fed officials whether growth is absorbing unused capacity.

Mr. Chavez has fed off the people's rage, and it is dangerous to perceive him as a vindicator rather than as a president,

Moving forward, the Fed will be focused on what they can do to get us out of recession.

My fear here is that there truly are expectations that the Fed is done, that the game is over. I don't think that's going to be the situation.