The momentum (for durable goods) still continues to be pretty robust,
In the last couple of weeks, market participants forgot about the idea of a tightening, ... People woke up to the idea that maybe the tightening isn't over.
Overall, earnings have been pretty decent so far, and that is what the market is responding to,
Even with a lot of economic news out today and this week, there are ongoing questions about the economy, and about what the Fed will do or say next week,
The price of oil is going to be the overwhelming factor in how concerned people are about the economy in the short term and about the strength of consumer spending.
People are sort of reassessing interest rates ahead of next week's Fed meeting as well, ... Tomorrow, they'll be looking to see what the jobs report says about the strength of the economy.
What I fear is that these numbers are not telling us everything, ... The worst news on the jobs front is yet to come in the next six months, which I think is still going to give room for the Fed to ease.
I think that the bottom line is that for people thinking that the economy is slowing down, that is certainly not the case,
I think that merging the resources of the two certainly is going to give some others a run for the money,
The decline in the core rate is very good news; it confirms that inflation continues to remain subdued, ... It shows that prices outside of energy are actually falling, which is great news for the Federal Reserve.
