Hugh Johnson Stocks Quotations

When you say the stock market is overvalued, you imply that the stock market is going down. But there is a touch of lunacy in every bull market -- stocks can become even more overvalued. A rational investment policy in an irrational world is suicide.

We had a very solid move up in stocks in the first quarter. There's a good chance that what the markets will be left with is a great deal of uncertainty or even the belief that more rate increases are coming.

One message we get is that the stocks people buy when they're scared -- basic materials, beverages, foods -- did not do as well. Investors are more optimistic about the economy.

never got the impression that margin debt was part of the support for Internet stocks until the last two months.

There are no real hiding places, ... But I would tell investors they shouldn't get too scared by what's happening. Don't forget that 70 percent of the time, stocks are going up. I don't know where the market is going in 30 days, but I know where it's going in 30 years.

It has been a solid performance, but there's still a healthy level of skepticism because stocks aren't cheap right now.

We have such speculation in Internet stocks already that it's earnings will be keenly watched and could stir up more speculation or spur a decline, depending on their results.

Usually, when you have a stock market mania, it's driven largely by individual investors borrowing money to buy stocks at prices that are too high. And usually, when a bubble becomes unwound, it's because of margin calls.

You know, we had four great years because we had declining inflation and interest rates. There's been a sea change. We now have inflation and interest rates actually heading higher. That makes things entirely different - you can't get away with high-priced earnings or overvalued stocks and so we're going through this adjustment to a new reality.

When you see buying in that (technology) sector in a bear market, it implies that there are investors out there who see improvement around the corner, and it's usually technology and cyclical stocks that lead the market out of a downtrend. The bias towards Friday's data may be that the data will be consistent with the view that the economy is showing some expansion.

You had a pretty good move in biotech this year, and biotech really has quite frankly lifted the health care and the drug stocks recently because investors have become somewhat defensive -- say in the last month or so -- and have also, on a relative basis, performed fairly well.

Is the possibility of a tax cut and a rate cut enough to eliminate or neutralized the concerns about the economy and earnings, letting the January effect play out, ... Watch the overall market and if the shift from defensive stocks to economically-sensitive stocks continues, it may be enough to turn the tide.

These stocks are so extraordinarily overvalued, and a lot of debt was built up to buy them. Everybody became a believer and had to be on board.

Technology stocks have been leaders for good reason. The economy is growing 3.5 percent per year, while spending on information-processing equipment is growing 19.1 percent a year, after inflation. And spending on computers and peripherals is growing at a 41.1-percent rate. Technology is reflecting what lies ahead for the economy.

Technology stocks have been leaders for good reason, ... The economy is growing 3.5 percent per year, while spending on information-processing equipment is growing 19.1 percent a year, after inflation. And spending on computers and peripherals is growing at a 41.1-percent rate. Technology is reflecting what lies ahead for the economy.

It seems so tied to the price of oil, that it's very hard to forecast what stocks will do next. On balance the message of the markets for the last nine trading sessions, including today, seems to have shifted to say that the price of oil is taking a chunk out of consumer spending.

It's not the stocks you pick, it's the structure of your portfolio that counts,

If you separate out all the sectors of the market, it's no longer the case that technology is the most overvalued sector of the market, health care and energy actually carry higher valuations than technology now. So we are starting to get the levels overall in technology that really make some sense. And interestingly enough, if you take it even further, if you go to the individual stocks, stocks like Sun, Cisco, Texas Instruments, Oracle -- great names, they're starting to get to levels which, again, don't call them cheap, but call them cheaper and interesting,

The fundamental premise in this business is you cannot be stuck in this business. You can buy stocks for the long haul, but if the market breaks down, you're going to suffer. You're going to pay for it.

The main reason that Alcoa is cheap is that all of the stocks in basic materials are cheap,