The earnings period has been pretty good so far, ... But its having a limited impact on stocks because the market is discounting higher interest rates in the months ahead. |
The economic news this morning was mixed. The leading indicators fell for the third straight month, which is certainly not a positive, but the decline was minimal. |
The economic news today wasn't good -- obviously it leads to worries of inflation. But that should have been expected, with oil and metals trading higher. It has to translate into inflation. The market continues to drift in a sea of uncertainty -- the geopolitical issues are still the main concern. |
The economic numbers have been neutral to positive, but it's the end of the quarter and the market is not responding to the drop in oil and drop in gold. |
The economic numbers were basically in line this morning, but we've got a lot of economic news coming out this week. Earnings are pretty much over with, and they were pretty mixed, so investors are now looking to see that the economy won't stall in the second quarter before they're going to be willing to buy. |
The economy is already weak and this is adding to the woes. It's a lose-lose situation. If the situation is settled soon, we go back to the same soft economy. If the situation is not settled soon, we get an even softer economy. |
The end of the strike in New York City is, obviously, a positive. It was slowing things down in terms of businesses and spending in a very important time of the year. |
The events of the weekend changed market psychology and people are using that as an opportunity to take profits after the huge rally, ... Markets had rallied on the certainty of war and on the belief that it would be quick and with few casualties. But we're seeing that's not the case. The breaking down of the Iraqi army that was talked about in the first few days was clearly overstated. |
The events of the weekend changed market psychology and people are using that as an opportunity to take profits after the huge rally. Markets had rallied on the certainty of war and on the belief that it would be quick and with few casualties. But we're seeing that's not the case. The breaking down of the Iraqi army that was talked about in the first few days was clearly overstated. |
The fact that oil fell out of bed is certainly propelling the market today, |
The fact that the market is continuing to stay at the upper end of the trading range, even with oil prices continuing to hover around their highs, is positive, it indicates investor confidence. |
The fact that the Nasdaq breached 2000, an important psychological level, but managed to close above it several times now over the last week is a positive. But I think we're going to continue to see this consolidation for at least another week or so until more of the March economic reports start coming in. |
The Fed decision was anticipated, so it's not having much of an effect. What we're seeing now is a reaction to the end of the quarter. It's basically window dressing. |
The Fed is going to have to do some serious thinking. We see the markets responding to that today. |
The Fed's choice to hold rates steady was no big surprise. People may have been using that as an excuse to sell at the top of a trading range, ... And we're probably going to be in a bit of a trading range until we get some new economic data that makes people want to move one way or the other. |