I think the overall picture is going to be one of extreme strength and the pool of labor is not getting any bigger, ... The Fed's concern is that wage increases will start outstripping productivity gains. So far that hasn't been a problem but that's what people are looking for in this week's report. |
I think the overall picture is going to be one of extreme strength and the pool of labor is not getting any bigger. The Fed's concern is that wage increases will start outstripping productivity gains. So far that hasn't been a problem but that's what people are looking for in this week's report. |
I think there are more pieces of good news here than bad news. |
I think there probably is room for the jobless rate to go lower still. |
I think we could start to see the impact really soon - as early as the fourth quarter of this year, |
I think what the market is waiting for is some signs of stabilization in the global economy, and especially the U.S. economy. |
I think you can definitely make a case that this is as much a U.S. dollar strength story as a euro weakness story, ... We also think the U.S. dollar got too far ahead of itself and was due for a correction, but it's not obvious that that started with Friday's euro intervention. |
I think you can make a case that it was led by a turnaround by the technology sector in the U.S., |
I'm sure there are certain select areas where we are seeing a bit of upward pressure on prices, but that's being offset by pullbacks in other areas. |
If I had to say there was a risk, it would be that they'll move 50 basis points -- I wouldn't rule that out completely, ... many people find it difficult to stick to that kind of prediction. |
If the bank does indeed raise rates, they are likely to sound very cautious about future rate moves, with the press release likely to highlight the many risks to the economy. |
If there's anything to point out from the press release from the Fed, I would have to say on balance it was a little bit milder than expected. |
In fact, over the past week, it was a veritable blood bath for commodity prices. |
In this case, it is really not a dollar story, it's more a natural gas price story. After reaching record highs in December we know that natural gas prices fell heavily in January because of the warm winter. |
In this environment, the Bank of Canada has very little room for error, and cannot be overly focused on a single sector of the economy, no matter how weak. |