Barry Hyman Rate Quotations

There is also a little bit of nervousness ahead of tomorrow's employment report, which is expected to be strong. It just focuses investors on the higher interest rates that are still in the offing.

The market rally this week supported a growing opinion that January 31 will be the last interest rate hike.

The market has two overhangs. It has the interest rate concern and it has the concern of whether a soft landing is achievable. The interest rate concern is over but the soft landing is another question. We don't know if the economy is slowing enough or slowing too fast and that concern, as it relates to earnings, is weighing on the market a little.

The market is clearly divided right now. Those who are looking at 2005 expectations think we can see moderate stock gains, those who are looking out at 2006 are more concerned.

I think people are looking forward to the end of rate hikes and if there's no dramatic change in the wording of the statement tomorrow, that could hurt the market.

A lot of the gains are due to the earnings story. I think the market can deal with one or two more interest rate hikes and believe that the Fed is not going beyond neutral.

I think we really have to get to the next Fed meeting before anything significant happens. We have to see the emphasis on a slowing economy, and that's key to seeing that there won't be an open-ended succession of rate hikes.

The idea is that interest rates will affect the old-economy companies more, because they are more interest rate sensitive. You will probably have less of an effect on technology stocks, and there is a lot of bargain-hunting going on. I think investors are a little more comfortable coming into these blue chips down 30 percent.

Profit taking will be key words today (Thursday) and over the next couple of weeks. The Fed's rate cut yesterday bodes well for the longer term but near term it is an excuse to take profits. Cisco's story is another excuse to take profits in technology.

There's worry about higher interest rates. The bond market has been very weak, and we can assume the higher interest rates are signs of a rebounding economy. This gives people a feeling of comfort, but we also worry about how rates are going to go and whether it will crimp economic activity further down the road.

I think the week was excellent. The Fed, even though the reaction was delayed, reinvigorated the psychology of the market. It's reinforcing the belief that these interest rate cuts will be the medicine for the economy.

The fourth quarter is going to be volatile and trying. I don't think the market has fully discounted all the negatives in front of it, including the hurricanes' impact on the economy, higher energy prices on corporate profits, and higher inflation.

The fourth quarter is going to be volatile and trying, ... I don't think the market has fully discounted all the negatives in front of it, including the hurricanes' impact on the economy, higher energy prices on corporate profits, and higher inflation.

I would characterize this as a correction long in coming. We're coming off of this tremendous run, plus you've got oil prices near all-time highs and the prospect of higher interest rates through the end of the year, and so you're seeing some profit taking.

The 10-year bond looks like it's headed higher, so I think the feeling is starting to pervade Wall Street that economy's fine and interest rates are heading higher. But the market has (also) been choppy and struggling with some key technical levels.

There is a substantial group of investors who believe the stock market will start to anticipate an (economic) recovery. The more rate cuts we get, the more likely the recovery is -- I'm looking at this as a 'buy the dip' opportunity.

I do believe an investor shouldn't change their philosophy just because it's post-Fed, ... I think the aggressive, more short term oriented philosophy that has worked the first seven months of the year will still be the philosophy until that strategy is proven to be wrong.

I look at a market here that is going to continue to be impacted by rates going higher, ... and I think it's heading into one of those post-earnings periods where it meanders. It's hard to see any substantive reason for us to move higher.

I think to an extent we've taken for granted the last few Fed meetings, and next week's meeting takes on more significance, ... A quarter-point hike is pretty much expected, but I think the relative bumpiness of the recent economic news could mean the Fed will indicate that rates may not rise as aggressively last year as people had been thinking.

There's no (economic) stabilization yet, but it now brings the possibility of continued aggressive Fed moves. We're four cuts deep into an interest rate cycle and we're going to get a fifth. That's going to help the economy down the road -- it's not a question of 'Will it?' but it's a question of when.

The economy is already slowing down without the impact of that 50 basis point hike last month, and I think what you have to look at here is the ending of the interest rate cycle. The growth stocks are technology stocks. And at this time it's a very seasonal thing as well. We are coming to the end of the quarter, so you are going to just get the great stock into the portfolios and sell the weak ones.

I think there are going to be opportunities to buy the weakness because I think the pre-release season will dominate again ? I don't think there's going to be a significant drop, though. There are a lot of people who buy the concept that 250 basis points (in interest rate cuts) with more coming is going to help.

The financial stocks, which could be a good indication of interest rate sentiment, are up. You want to see the real interest rate sensitive stocks participate.

What you are seeing is the likelihood that interest rates will not go higher next week, making it easier to give these big cap growth stocks high valuations.

This almost assures the fact that we'll see an interest rate hike in November,

The inflation story has been the ongoing story for the markets since the Fed raised rates at the September meeting.

It is quite astounding. One week revenue-based companies are forbidden (psychologically) from investors' minds and one week later, as interest rate (fears) return, technology (stock) is the place to be because they are less affected.

I don't think the economy can really withstand the equity markets dropping down and giving back all of its gains ? that would really hamper consumer confidence. The one thing that has changed is psychology ? it's time to look forward to what the effect interest rate cuts mean for the economy.

I don't think there's anything that will deter the Fed from lowering interest rates in August. I think the story is going to be the continuing belief that there is a mixed story on Wall Street that has been brought out, in terms of technology. The visibility story is changing somewhat to the 'we see the bottom in sight' scenario.

I think the year starts out very similar to how it's ending. Just because a stock is cheap doesn't mean it should be bought ? you have to look at the growth rate and I think the Fed lowering interest rates is going to be very important.

The problems are the same: Interest rates are high, and the economy is strong. It is affecting those sectors that are credit sensitive.

The intermediate background look in terms of interest rates peaking and the economy slowing to a more sustainable pace without any undue harm is slowly going to play itself out. I would be very shocked if the GDP came in anywhere higher than estimates because Wall Street is already expressing its confidence that the economy is slowing down.

This puts 5.25% on the fed funds rate back on the table. It's not the job of anyone to interpret what a market's reaction to a comment will be. This has added volatility on a day-to-day basis, so opinions can change that quickly when they shouldn't. It's great to be flexible, but it's not healthy to investors.

We think 3.5 percent is a good point for the Fed to take a break to measure the economy and the impact of its rate hikes. If the economy does appear to be picking up, they could start raising again.

When you have a major company like GE boosting its dividend and announcing a big buyback, that's very positive for corporate America,

It's going to be another confidence building story the closer we get to the Fed meeting. I believe that the unemployment rate and the NAPM numbers will be the key numbers.

It's going to be push-pull this week, ... Will earnings be strong and drive the Dow to 12,000, or will higher rates work to push the Dow lower?

There's a lot of pre-Fed buying. There's this insane belief that the Fed's going to move more than a half-point and that's what's powering the Dow, because you have a lot of cyclicality in that index and they are certainly beneficiaries of any severe interest rate cut.

There's a lot of pre-Fed buying, ... There's this insane belief that the Fed's going to move more than a half-point and that's what's powering the Dow, because you have a lot of cyclicality in that index and they are certainly beneficiaries of any severe interest rate cut.

I expect (ECI) to be very tame and show now inflation. It's the GDP I'm concerned about. If either one doesn't come in line (with expectations), the market will remain under pressure, ... I'm looking at the GDP number because that's going to give us a direct causal effect to how well the interest rate hikes have slowed the economy down.

The market gets extremely concerned on (long-term) interest rates when they get above 6 percent.

The market did improve with the housing data. Market trends day to day are really influenced by how the bonds have been trading. When the rates have gone up, equities have suffering, when rates have gone down, the market has been optimistic.

We need some inference from the Fed that interest rates beyond June are in doubt,

It was exactly what Wall Street thought. The wording was exact -- no hike, sees inflation risk ahead, recent data shows moderating slowdown is still tentative and preliminary, and leaves open (a) rate hike in August.

It was exactly what Wall Street thought, ... The wording was exact -- no hike, sees inflation risk ahead, recent data shows moderating slowdown is still tentative and preliminary, and leaves open (a) rate hike in August.

Higher interest rates are an impediment to companies where cost is important and that's Old Economy stocks, ... What we are seeing is a defensive move into technology stocks.