Hugh Johnson Employment Quotations

Tomorrow, the market will probably continue upward driven by the dollar, but it won't go up much because of caution before the employment figures.

The numbers across the board were pretty surprising. I would say that improvements in the leading indicators of the economy, like the employment and manufacturing numbers, is very encouraging and indicate that the economy is expanding and not contracting. It also suggests continued expansion into the first quarter.

Everybody is waiting for the employment report on Friday. The belief is that the economy is rebounding from the sluggish fourth quarter. We will know on Friday.

It's a reasonably accepted conclusion that the Fed will raise rates in both June and August; that's what the market has discounted. I don't know if Friday's employment report will change that, no matter what it says.

Yesterday's weak ISM number shows the manufacturing sector is just limping along. Another report this week suggests that Friday's August employment report may not be very good. Worries about the economy resurface and are reflected in stocks,