[Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan] wants to get the economy off the ground, and I expect the Fed to move ahead with another quarter-point cut next week. |
[Friday's report] probably reduces the odds of the Fed making another move [at its next meeting]. This is fairly benign report; it would have taken something a bit worse than this to get the Fed to move again. |
A lot of people must still be sitting on the sidelines. This kind of job growth will encourage them, but I don't see it sparking a surge in wage costs. We still have a lot more room for job growth before we have to worry about venturing into dangerous inflationary territory. |
All the evidence on consumer confidence would tell us that all spending on big-ticket items is liable to plummet in the next month or two. |
Any time there's a jump in one index, you start to worry about the other one. And any time one of them is tame, you tend to assume that the outlook for the other gets better. |
As long as unemployment is relatively high ... the Fed is under no pressure to start tightening. Right now, you have to think they've really won the war on inflation -- they're at least as worried about deflation as inflation at this point. They're not going to do anything that would jeopardize this recovery right now. |
At this point I am guessing that the Fed is pretty committed to raising rates in January but after that all bets are off. |
Businesses seem to be doing everything they can to increase profits without increasing hiring. Unfortunately for the labor market, they appear to be quite successful. |
But that's still largely a hope, not a certainty. |
But you have to come back to the fact that another good month is another good month. And that is good news for the economic recovery. |
By mid to late October, you're getting into the fourth quarter, and people are starting to look at their year-end results and deciding whether they can bail out now and still look good for the year. That's going to be as true now as it was (in 1987). |
Clearly [the August spending data] confirm that consumer spending was on the weak side but still in positive territory, which I think would have confirmed a consensus view that the worst was probably past. |
Considering the impact of the hurricanes and record heating bills last year, the economy continues to show remarkable resilience. |
Corporations may be ultra-cautious, but at least they're not slashing jobs, and that's a net positive. |
Even though it's improving, there's still an awful lot of people who dropped out of work force and are waiting to be pulled back in. |