The plunge in inventory accumulation does suggest that firms are not confident enough to add merchandise to their shelves. But they will not be able to do this indefinitely because everyone knows that sporting empty shelves in a rising growth environment is not prudent. |
The primary catalyst in the market remains energy, it continues to rule the day. But then we saw that energy prices started to go up, and that took some of the luster off the gains. |
The problem was that we had earnings growing at a high multiple of economic activity, and that wasn't right. There was a considerable amount of pressure for companies to exaggerate economic activity, but the economy was doing just fine. |
The prospects of 4 percent real GDP growth (or possibly more after future data revisions) during the third quarter are back on the table, |
The prospects of 4 percent real GDP growth (or possibly more after future data revisions) during the third quarter are back on the table. |
The reason was the benign inflation data. |
The recovery is proceeding, but gradually, and that's actually healthy. It's the kind of recovery central bankers dream of -- gradual, not explosive, and therefore long-lasting and sustainable. |
The recovery of 2002 looks poised to mirror the recovery of a decade ago, with a moderate economic and earnings recovery following a short and shallow recession. |
The report illustrates the fact that housing is not defying gravity and is not likely to do so this year. We're going to see chipping away of housing. |
The report is certainly encouraging. It says there's no urgency to panic about inflation. But that's not the same as saying there's justification for a pause. This is all pre-Katrina. There's enough pipeline pressures out there to say that a pause is not a slam dunk. |
The resiliency of the consumer is very impressive in the wake of so many terror warnings, ... One cautionary note is that, moving forward, these numbers may soften, as those warnings are still coming. |
The resiliency of the consumer is very impressive in the wake of so many terror warnings. One cautionary note is that, moving forward, these numbers may soften, as those warnings are still coming. |
The resilient consumer and an attempt by businesses to jump-start and keep the economy going -- the combination of those two forces gave us a bounce-back in economic activity. |
The retail sales figures clearly prove that betting against the consumer is a sucker's bet, ... Not surprisingly, the ex-auto figure on retail sales tears down the argument that consumers are only buying cars and houses. |
The retail sales figures clearly prove that betting against the consumer is a sucker's bet. Not surprisingly, the ex-auto figure on retail sales tears down the argument that consumers are only buying cars and houses. |