I think investors are a lot like dieters. They look at January as a good month to start anew. |
I think investors want to see improvement in the economic data so that the feeling is that the Fed doesn't need to lower interest rates. That in itself is a positive. |
I think the election added to the downward movement but it really was Dell that started it off. |
I would regard today as positive, although we're clearly not out of the woods yet. |
If the Fed lowers rates next week, the questions become 'How much further can they go?,' 'Is it effective?,' and 'Can the Fed really turn things around?,' |
If they don't do it tomorrow, they will likely do it in January. |
If you were to buy those industries that in the prior 12 months had beaten the S&P 500, if you had purchased those, held them for another 12 months, you indeed over the past 10 years would have beaten the market seven of those 10 times. |
In general, we are seeing things that look a lot better. |
In some ways, a little person likes to say 'Well, he got what he did to so many people.' It does work both ways, with obviously the goal being to make the business work better. But I guess he had a certain time frame and he did not meet that time frame, |
In this cyclical bull market that's been in place since October 2002, we haven't had a big pullback. |
Increased volatility can certainly cause increase tension, but that's not a reason to step out. It is certainly white-knuckle time, but that does not necessarily mean the good run has ended. |
Investors are going to look at whatever economic numbers come out and say is this additional fuel for the Fed to lower rates in March. Earnings are going to continue to come out and they're likely to be negative so you're going to have earnings weighing on the market. |
It's an industry that does not experience a change in demand whether the economy is expanding or contracting, or whether the market is rising or falling. When you die, you die. The only difference could be the families of the one who passed away, if times are tough, could opt for a less expensive funeral. |
It's possible it got to the point where valuations [of value stocks] were stretched, ... I think investors were just taking profits. |
It's really about the Fed -- and by how much the Fed will raise interest rates. |