If the Fed is wrong and inflation runs too high, out of control, there can be a catastrophic loss of confidence in the Fed that has national and international implications. |
If you liked October, you are going to love November, ... because you can anticipate some further softness in these core items like new cars. G.M. has already announced the next incentive program. |
It is inevitable that we will see a 1% or 1.5% decline in retail sales in an upcoming month as consumers become sated with new vehicles. ... This will not be an indication of any particular vulnerability. |
It's going to take more that a one-month decrease in consumer prices to knock the Fed off it rate-rise bandwagon. |
It's largely reflecting the time constraints on the part of shoppers. Doing all the test-driving and research at auto dealers means that they are not at malls and department stores and restaurants. |
It's not just that the sales level was down but look at the difference between single-family and condos. |
more of an emotional response to the recent woes and gives very little insight into consumer spending behavior. |
The consumer is still in there slugging away. There is no reason to think the consumer is going to pull back into some shell and go away. |
The economic expansion has matured to the point where corporate America feels it's safe to staff up. |
The most encouraging signs in the December report was that inventories declined in an absolute sense and at a faster rate. That implies a need for future restocking and that should be a good sign for January, February and March. |
There is a great deal of fear and uncertainty out there. On the one hand it's sad to see peoples' lives disrupted and destroyed. On the other hand, people are worrying about how they are going to pay their gasoline bills and their home heating bills this winter. It makes for a pretty bleak view of the future. |
There will be a lot of rebuilding that is going to need to occur. These things do spur GDP growth. |
There's no question we're getting back to better days for job creation. |
There's no question we're getting back to better days for job creation. There's been a sense of unease in the American workplace and this should help relieve that. The economy is getting on off to excellent start in 2006. |
These results cast more cold water on the notion that if non-discretionary spending on energy swells, it must crimp discretionary spending. It hasn't. |