Douglas Porter Bit Quotations

While it's a bit of a surprise, the slightly downbeat news on confidence can be explained by the ongoing weakness in employment, and perhaps consumers are a little concerned about the backup in mortgage rates. But while they're becoming less confident, they're still buying -- the latest sales numbers still look good.

These solid results suggest that the economy actually had a fair bit of momentum heading into 2003.

Forecasts of parity (with the U.S. dollar) are multiplying faster than bunny rabbits in May.