Fed Quotations | Page 3

My feeling is the Fed hasn't clearly indicated that it's fighting a slower economy rather than inflation. Economists and individual investors would like to see the Fed cut rates by 75 basis points and I do believe that would take some of the pressure off the consumer.

One of the things the market wants to see is that the Fed is finished raising interest rates.

One's true character shows through when you're faced with adversity, and our kids were force fed some this week, but responded like champions tonight. If we want to make a run at the NCIC, we know we've got to run the table because you can't expect Rock Falls to lose more than one game, so tonight we took that first step.

October is not all that bad, but there have been some eye-catching examples that have fed the folklore that October can be a bad month.

None of these numbers here are outside the realm of the policy forecasts that the Fed chairman was talking about yesterday, and the market's kind of saying that.

No one should interpret the remarks as being a prelude for the Federal Reserve raising the Fed funds rate at the December or February meeting. That's not going to happen. If that was going to happen, the chairman wouldn't have made a speech to puncture the exuberance.

No one expects the Fed to raise rates, but people are interested to see what they say about the economy, particularly about employment.

One thing to understand about interest rates is that they're bad in both directions. Having rates at an extreme low is bad. By encouraging them to go further, the Fed only makes it worse.

One thing that's clear is that the Fed is saying that they don't know what the future holds.

One thing that's clear is that the Fed is determined to still seem balanced. The minutes will reflect a little more inflation concern and a little more concern about the economy but no deviation from the measured pace.

My first four starts I've had trouble with that, and finally you just get fed up with it. If we were going to win, I had to get ahead and get people out.

My concern is that what's happened here is that inflation is higher than the Fed anticipated. On top of that, the kind of tightening already imposed by the markets, in terms of lower equities and higher bond yields, is setting up weaker growth in 2005.

More and more strategists are of the opinion that the Fed may be completely through.

More than any of his predecessors, he has gone public with every issue under the sun. I'm not sure there's a right answer, but I think it's worth talking about in a public forum what ought to be boundaries of the Fed governors' comments.

More rate cuts may not be forthcoming, but the Fed is also not likely to start raising rates as quickly as financial markets expect.

Moreover, with a fair amount of Fed tightening now priced in, the US currency remains more vulnerable to downside surprises than upside surprises.

More tightening is still needed. The Fed has to consider the election calendar. They can't delay until late summer or fall, when it might be politically more difficult.

Money market and checking account rates are more closely tied to Fed activity. Some banks are offering higher interest rates on checking and money market accounts, but these are promotional rates that are temporary and do not affect the core product interest rate.

(Money managers) expect the Fed to stop raising rates before short-term rates inflict any significant damage to economic growth.

Money funds look very good at the moment, but you don't want to move everything into cash and at some point next year, when the rate hikes are over and the Fed starts cutting, find you've missed your chance to lock in higher long-term rates.

Monetary policy is the perfect instrument for these circumstances. The Fed can keep pushing as needed, but still can turn on a dime and pull back as soon as spending starts to rebound.

Mortgage rates come down when fixed-income investors think the economy is slowing, not because the Fed cuts rates.

Mortgage equity withdrawal (which keys off prices and rates) is going to ebb substantially and pull consumer spending growth down along with it. When it does, the Fed will pause.

My gut says the Fed doesn't have too many bullets left to fire, and therefore they have to use them sparingly, and we'll see a (quarter percentage point) cut at the next meeting.

My guess is the Fed tightens but, as you know, it's a toss-up ... it's a 50-50 shot,

My guess is the action of the Fed was pretty much discounted by the market already.

My guess is it won't be very exciting because he already told us three weeks ago what he thinks. He's certainly not going to say anything that suggests the Fed might be thinking about not cutting rates as soon as the market thinks but I don't think he'll want to give the impression that they're going to slash rates even more aggressively.

My grandmother raised me. She was a real no-nonsense but very funny lady. I drove tractors, made hay, milked cows, fed the chicken, fed the pigs.

My favorite market at the moment is Treasuries. The Fed will probably halt at 4.5 percent for six months or as much as a year.

Maybe the tone will give us some sense of whether its June or August that the Fed will raise rates.

No one thinks the Fed is going to raise rates, so to what avail does a benign PPI number do to the market,

Now we're going to see more pressure on the bond market and an already stressed equity market. There's a lot of concern and we're seeing some defensive investing. This number shows that the Fed will continue raising rates. Numbers like this show that we're in store for two more hikes.

Now the odds are 85 percent that the Fed will move again.

Now, with the inflation numbers, there are some worrying about Fed credibility, worried maybe that they're falling behind the curve.

Now that I'm a civilian again, I can once more comment on economic and financial issues without my words being put under the microscope by Fed watchers.

Next week's retail sales numbers and inflation numbers are going to be some key statistics to give us a little bit more input into where the Fed stands.

Next week's producer price index or consumer price index could tip the Fed in favor of a June hike if they're on the upside.

News from the Fed that they may continue raising short-term rates surprised the market, causing short-term rates to exceed long-term rates.

New Fed chairmen like to come out of the gate looking hawkish as they try to formulate their credibility. Then, they go back to looking more dovish.

Obviously they (investors) are going to focus on the Fed but a rate cut is priced in. The focus will be on the economy and signs that the first batch of interest rates are finally taking hold.

Obviously, the tech wreck has some effect on the consumer because the slowdown has affected (spending). The Fed has less work than we had thought before.

Obviously the market was very nervous about what the Fed is going to do tomorrow.... But I think by the end of today people began to get optimistic that things are not quite as bad as they seemed to be last week and prices are actually pretty good right now.

Obviously the Dow is being helped by the strength in Philip Morris, along with Microsoft and Intel. It's an 'old economy'-'new economy' rally. But volume is not all that great, so obviously the market will continue to guess what the Fed will or will not do.

Nothing in these numbers would change the outlook for Fed policy, which is to tighten credit and to try to encourage market conditions that would slow growth to a more sustainable pace this year. The report leaves the Fed on track for a quarter-point hike in February, but there isn't the kind of urgency to warrant a 50 basis point hike.

Re-widening of the interest rate differential will see the Australian dollar higher. Rumors of the Medley report that the Fed will stop tightening at 4.75 percent or 5 percent is below market expectations.

Retail sales is the single best indication of overall demand in the economy. It's one of the things the Fed is keying on because (of) when they started raising interest rates.

Right after Katrina it looked like a no-brainer. Uncertainties about where things were going as a result of Katrina would force the Fed to pause. But since then, the idea of the Fed pausing is fading,

People were encouraged that the Fed may not have to raise rates August 22.

People who were really slashing third-quarter GDP forecasts might need to rethink. The economy was more resilient than people thought. It supports the thesis that the Fed will raise rates in September at least,

People who were looking for a big rally today with expectations that the Fed would announce that it was done, were disappointed.

People who want to watch the Fed need to be very careful,

People would start to worry about growth, and given the fact that the market is already looking for the Fed to end its rate increases this could be a dollar negative. No one would expect central banks to be raising rates in an environment where energy costs are going up sharply.

People would prefer to risk death rather than continue living there. People just get so fed up with the system they leave and risk their lives on the high seas.

Perhaps the single best piece of economic news in 2005 was that record-high energy prices did not spill over into the rest of the economy. While the Fed can be relaxed about inflationary risks in the U.S. economy, its role is to preempt.

Police were really fed up with Milosevic, ... So we needed to get rid of him together, with them.

Possibly we could see a little bit of profit taking because investors had been anticipating that when the Fed does meet next week that they won't raise interest rates,

My teammates' energy was fantastic and we fed off each other the entire game; that's really what pushed us over that threshold. We hadn't had a 90-point game in a while, hadn't had this kind of enthusiasm and effort. So it was great to have, especially considering what tomorrow is.

My take is that the Fed will continue to raise overnight rates until it feels it has moved from a stimulative to a neutral policy stance. That will likely take the funds rate to 4 per cent-to-4.25 per cent by yearend.

Next year we're looking for a Round Two of Fed tightening. We're looking at 6 percent and beyond for the first half of next year.

Nobody knows when the Fed is going to quit raising rates. Once the market feels comfortable with that question, we will see it move one way or another.

Newspapers have an agenda that does not match people's opinions in many cases, ... They are out of step politically, they are out of step in coverage. People get fed up with that. Newspapers are out of touch with mainstream Americans and now the problems are coming home to roost.

On the margin, the statement reads as if the Fed has quite a bit of confidence in the economy. There's a fairly optimistic undertone about the economic momentum.

On some peculiar pigmented cells found in two mosquitoes fed on malarial.

On Sept. 10, there was a strong chance we'd dodge a recession as historically defined. One reason we had dodged a recession was remarkably timely Fed policy. Fed policy has as much chance to work as it ever has.

One of the key concerns of the Fed has been the wealth effect that the stock market has created. And with the market that we saw this morning, we're likely to see more volatility going forward, especially if it leads to more muted market activity on the return side.

I was really sick of bands just ignoring the audience as a posture in rock music. And I think we fed off each other in terms of trying to engage the audience, not in a hammy way, but actually trying to be aware of the space that you are playing in and trying to connect in some way through the music.

I was raised on T.V. dinners because in those days, they were considered a well-balanced meal. And when I was sick, my mother fed me beef-barley soup and peanut butter sandwiches. That's about it for childhood food memories.

I would be nervous about picking an inflation-targeting champion as my next Fed chairman given the potential impact on employment growth.

I would be interested in what those Fed members who are concerned about longer-term risks to the economy say in terms of any damage from higher energy prices and commodity prices.

I wish we could bottle it up. Shooting 60% and shooting like that from threes. Shooting is a lot about confidence and rhythm and not only did our shooters have that but I felt the way we were playing fed into the rhythm and the confidence. Everybody feeds off each other. One shot led to another.

I would guess this will be another weak report and that, I think, will keep the Fed on its path of easing, ... In a perverse way, the market will like it because they'll think the Fed will make another cut at the next FOMC meeting.

I would attach a reasonably high probability that there will be a problem in the housing or finance markets that will test the next Fed chairman.

I work in a room overlooking the river. I try to get to my desk as soon as I've fed my cats and chickens. I use a blue 3B pencil and scribble away for about 20 pages before transferring it to the computer.

If we get more inflationary data, that could bring people back to their senses. Just because the Fed talks about inflation in a benign way one meeting doesn't mean that feeling will be pervasive at the next meeting.

If we get a strong number (Friday) it could rekindle fears of another Fed tightening and that will keep investors on the defensive.

If we get a string of bad data on inflation, the Fed will probably have to tighten for a bit longer.

If we get anything close to the 1.4 (percent) increase in the first-quarter, that will put the Fed back into play.

If we get any guidance that the Fed would be guiding toward a neutral stance, that could be a (positive) impetus, ... The economy is slowing but not recessing and the Fed will be there if necessary.

If we get another jobs report as weak as this, there's no way the Fed will hike in September.

If we hadn't heard from Greenspan last week that the Fed is still worried about an uneven recovery, we might be more upset about these numbers. But Greenspan is concerned that these retail sales numbers could falter later on so these numbers probably won't have that great an impact.

I got off to a great start this morning. It was kind of chilly too. With three birdies in four holes on my back nine, I got a little bit of momentum going. I was in a good group too. Van Pelt was minus-five, so we just kind of fed off each other a little bit.

I grew up a chubby girl. I had two brothers. My parents loved us, they just fed us whatever we wanted.

If they don't move to a neutral position, the bond market will react negatively. If the Fed sits there and reiterates the same risk on inflation, the bond market is going to look at this and say the Fed is way behind the curve.

If they keep the word, the financial markets will like that, because the Fed has put itself in a self-imposed box. If they discard the word measured, they'll be saying they're free to do what they want.

If they exchange gold wedding bands (the) price of gold will go up. If they travel to Europe on their honeymoon, the dollar will strengthen. If (Treasury Secretary) Robert Rubin and other administration officials are there, the Fed won't tighten again.

If this continues, it can do real damage to core inflation, making it all the more important that the Fed succeeds in slowing the economy to ease inflation pressure.

If they were to cut rates, it might endorse the view that the Fed believes inflation is not a problem. And that can be a dangerous game.

If this kind of strength follows through to other reports, it will become very difficult for the Fed to leave rates unchanged when they meet on Aug. 22nd,

If we continue to see the trend slowing and we get better (economic) numbers, I think the Fed can take a pass at the end of the month and wait until August.

I don't know what the guy is going to say tomorrow, but like everyone else I am going to be listening closely, ... I tend to think that this (CPI) number should have quieted down a lot of the sentiment about the likelihood or the need for a Fed tightening move.

I don't know what constitutes a nuisance bar, but I'd think this would. We're fed up.

I do not want to give Robbie Savage any more publicity. I am fed up to the back teeth with him.

I am honored to continue as captain of the US Fed Cup team and look forward to leading a team-oriented group of the best players in our country.

I believe what we may see is a minor pullback due to a lack of fresh catalysts now that the Fed has already said what they said.

I believe the Fed will engineer this slowdown and it won't result in a hard landing,

I believe the Fed needs to wean the economy off the morphine drip of low interest rates before it gets hooked.

I believe the Fed is in overshoot territory.

I am saddened very much by the latest events. I don't really know where we go from here. Looks like at this time we're in for the long haul. I'm fed up -- looks like we are just going to have to walk the picket lines. My members are losing money. Ever day it is getting worse, than getting better.

I am still a little bit bearish. The market thinks the U.S. economy is strong. Treasuries are still not attractive because the Fed will raise rates on March 28 and maybe again in May.

Certainly the Fed has voiced more concern over inflation for public consumption that it has in previous years, so it's not surprising that markets would respond accordingly. It just really doesn't jive very well with the facts on the ground.