And unfortunately, this group probably has more digestion ahead of it. |
At the Congressional hearings next week, there will be a lot of noise about the Bush administration's budget, the budget deficits and Social Security, as well as talk of interest rates. |
At the peak people were throwing money at anything, regardless of the fundamentals. Now you have the opposite. There are good companies and some decent bargains out there, and people are completely ignoring them with all this panic. |
Basically we're trading sideways until there's an indication of corporate spending and of earnings picking up. Institutional investors are buying and selling, but the individual investor is still on the sidelines. |
Considering the carnage that is going on in Iraq and the fact that the Fed is set to raise rates next week, we should be at the lower end of this trading range, but we're not. |
Definitely, there is a turning around of the ship here. Earnings are improving and investors are starting to respond to that. |
Earnings estimates are really, really weak -- and the focus really is earnings. In October, a rosy picture was painted for 2003. Now people are saying the second half will be good. I'm very, very leery about the economic condition. Come July, August, I'm afraid the earnings estimates will be cut. |
Earnings season is finished, and the economy is taking this one step forward, one step back path. I'm looking for us to be in a holding pattern at least through the rest of February. |
Higher energy prices, new fears of terrorism, some profit taking after the previous rally -- all of that is why we've come back from the late January, early February levels. |
I do think this is a lull in the market rather than a new bear trend. One month does not a trend make. |
I don't really see anything substantial that could derail this market right now. |
I thought the recent sell-off in the equity market was somewhat overdone. I'm still in the camp that believes we will see a high-single-digit return for equities in total this year. |
I'm pleased with the first-quarter gains, but I don't think that you can extrapolate that the whole year will be positive as a result. We still expect low single-digit returns for the S&P 500 this year. |
I'm somewhat in the cautious camp. The rally may continue, but this is exactly how we felt in 1999 and 2000 before we started questioning earnings. I feel there is going to be a reality check somewhere. |
If there's military action, it's going to have to be soon. The heat is oppressive come March, April, May in that part of the world. In the desert it can reach 120 degrees. So I have a feeling something will happen in February. |