Bryan Piskorowski Quotations

We're hoping for the 'bad news is good news' syndrome -- that we will continue to see signs of a slowing economy and that will make the Fed more accommodating.

We're seeing some weakness, which is not surprising. We've had pretty sizable gains in the last two days, so you're seeing a little rotating out of sectors and some profit taking. However, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a little bounce after we get through the morning.

We've seen late day short rallies on low volume that are exaggerated by lack of supply. The move has been overrated,

Selling on the news has been the mantra for second-quarter earnings season. What's more has been the bull's inability to piece together any kind of winning streak. With sustainability in question and anxiety abounding about tomorrow's (Thursday's) Employment Cost Index and Friday's second quarter GDP, few players are willing to step up to the plate today.

But it's going to be a quiet week. A lot of people are on vacation, there's little in corporate reporting or econ data, Congress is still in recess. We lack drama right now, which means we're going to be left to our own devices, which could be good or bad.

I think the fact that the election is so close is having an effect on the Dow. It's (the race) so close here that little bits of nuances like a 24-year-old story on George W. Bush is having an effect on stocks.

I think a week of profit taking is fairly healthy after the kind of run we've seen.

I still think it's a relatively fertile investing environment. There are better roads ahead and the market is generally going to try to consolidate and deal with a slowing economy.

We are in a bit of a news vacuum as we wait for the deluge of corporate earnings reports.

We're coming to grips with the reality that we had an economy that was cruising at 3.6 percent and is looking at 2.7 (percent) or below in the third-quarter as a revision. The question is how soft a landing are we going to get. A more conducive monetary policy would help the plight of stocks but we've got to see some data to support that notion.

We understand the manufacturing side is in a recession. The question is, Will the data bring forth a more forthright (aggressive) Fed?

We don't need a cause and effect here. We have bear psychology gripping the market so there's general apathy toward taking positions -- rallies are viewed as short-lived and trader-oriented.

We ran 8 percent in four sessions, and now we're giving some of it back. It's just good old-fashioned, healthy profit-taking more than anything else.

We're wrapping up a year where we saw the Christmas rally happen in the autumn time frame. There's not much gunpowder left in December, so it's a month of digestion.

We keep trying to see a consensus for when things will bottom out. But then we keep getting these numbers that would seem to undermine that.

You have nobody willing to be a hero here -- it's hard for people to step up to the plate. Trade over the past two sessions has been very speculative. If you removed Iraq, you'd probably have a market that was doing OK.

We've had pretty sizable gains in the last two days, so you're seeing a little rotating out of sectors and some profit taking. Last week we had a one-hit wonder. This week we're trying to see if we can do a little better.

Ultimately what we're trying to come to grips with is the fact that we understand that second-quarter earnings are not going to be good but the timing of a recovery is hanging over our head. We'll get some forecasting, looking out, but it's what those forecasts say that puts proof in the pudding.

You got technical selling coming in as we broke a support level. Beyond that, we're just sitting here in no-man's land waiting for earnings announcements and economic data.

Earnings have been good, but we're priced for perfection. The bulls want a stronger wine to keep the party going.

Tech stocks brought us up from our Oct. 8 lows and have continued to lead the market higher. When they go down it's going to drag the rest of the market with it.

The Nasdaq is just licking its wounds and trying to rebuild. There's a lot of cash on the sidelines and there's some mild buying here.

And that's why we're going to stick close to the earnings tree, closer to the large cap names.

Also, global concerns have pushed money to the sidelines and it has remained there. As you move into 2003, the question becomes: Can the consumer hold on until we have corporate America pick up the torch and begin spending.

This morning it was really a story of positive earnings on the tape and no major hiccups on the economic front. All in all, it's going to play out as a respectable but not blow-out earnings season.

A couple of days of profit taking is healthy and I wouldn't be reading too much into it. The discounting nature of the market being what it is, we just got a little ahead of ourselves.

It was really a story of positive earnings on the tape and no major hiccups on the economic front. You had decent reports from three sectors in general: industrial, tech and health care.

It's going to take us a few months to figure out how much the economy is slowing.

It's going to be tough in the next couple of weeks.

It's basically a technical dead-cat bounce we're seeing here today. The thing in the market that has been lacking is sustainability and follow through. So we'll keep our eyes on some upcoming economic data. And that's basically going to take today and this week's trade.

It's been a disastrous week and we're just limping along here -- ultimately we're in a profit recession and the question is how long will that linger, which is frustrating the plight of equities. In the bigger picture you have a market that is clearly unhappy, and that stems from the lack of visibility.

That kind of capitulatory downside will lead to bounces, but the question is sustainability and follow-through. That's something the market has been unable to demonstrate any credibility in doing so over the last three months.

The big picture here is that we're pretty quiet. We are in the seasonally strongest month of the year, so that supports us, but the fact that everyone's so bullish is a bit worrisome.

Stocks have put together a respectable run over the past few sessions, but we're not getting that warm and fuzzy feeling this time. With inflation fears kicking around and the April jobs data looming on Friday's horizon, skepticism is in the air.

The bankruptcy filing and other stock stories are weighing on us a little, and you've got the Federal Reserve meeting and the CEOs signing off on the books hanging over us, but mostly you're seeing stocks a little skittishness after four days of gains last week.

It's a mildly affirmative day as recovery makes the scene.

After suffering from an oversold condition, recent earnings reports have clearly benefited the bulls. Putting this into perspective, one-third of the S&P 500 has reported thus far, with 72% beating the consensus estimates, while only 17% have come in below estimates. After some mixed results on the earnings front in tech, we are on the mend.

Clearly, with GDP cruising at 5.6 percent, our economy is definitely steaming along, and that's got the Fed worried. And the question is, going forward: What do we see at the June meeting? Do we see another 50 basis points?

Clearly trading here in the month of May feels more like August. But bottom line here, yes, we are, we're pinned in by interest rate uncertainty; we're pinned in by the Fed meeting coming up at the end of June. Obviously with those two things hanging over our head, the bottom line is the market really hasn't been taking a position on either side of the coin. In the last two weeks, we've basically been trading -- I can't believe this -- in the 10 percent range on the Nasdaq. But that's what it's been.

Clearly, trading here in the month of May feels more like August.

For the Fed, the productivity numbers and the very well-restrained unit labor costs are good news, confirming that they didn't have to take action to pace the economy.

The market continues to be correlated with oil prices, and the volume is thin, which tends to exacerbate any moves the market makes. That having been said, we have managed to recover from the morning's lows, which is a positive.

This is more a digestive phase. You have a market that's grasping and hoping to try and put a finger on the bottom.

You've got HP today. You also have a structural shift, a seasonal shift that is very positive right now.

All of this building up with very little fundamentally to support it makes us vulnerable. It probably means there's going to be some news in the next few sessions that will cause some profit taking to come into play.

The market is not going to be applauding this,