If we do have oil prices at this level for another week or so, it's going to make investors reconsider the whole outlook for consumer demand, which of course has been the real fuel for the economy. |
Investors were encouraged by the inflation figures. There was fear they would be considerably higher. |
It has been an interesting phenomenon, ... people just haven't been willing to sell. |
It is an impressive showing for the market again, |
It means the appetite for U.S. assets is still strong and that was enough to give stocks a boost this afternoon. |
It's a very nervous and uncertain market |
It's been an accumulation of data that suggest the economy has great momentum here, more than people had expected. It seems almost inevitable that the fed will have to move, but even if it doesn't, the market is pushing up long rates in any case. |
My guess is that it was probably a program trade that went in. |
My guess is we've seen a little bit of a blow-off on oil and it's going to be a little bit more of a hospitable climate, as far as oil prices are concerned. |
No one takes him seriously any more. |
Oil is getting hit here and that also hurts the oil stocks. That is disenchanting a number of short-term traders who didn't expect to get hit that badly by a drop in crude prices. |
Regardless of what the Fed does today, I think that maximum monetary stimulation throughout the world is over. We are seeing the low point of interest rates throughout the world. The next move will be upward. Moreover, I think the earnings momentum for the markets is eroding as well. |
Restaurant stocks were badly hit last week and they were entitled to bounce back. But frankly, I would not be in that space because it is most vulnerable to a cutback by lower-income consumers due to higher oil prices. |
That's because the market's been dominated by entrepreneurial investors, rather than typical mutual fund investors. |
The Delphi bankruptcy didn't help. The concern is, what are the repercussions of that for General Motors and for other auto makers and the component makers. And it's all happening against background where real wages are not rising, so the question is, who's going to buy what American manufacturers produce? |