Ned Riley Report Quotations

The May payrolls report will be the celebrated one next week, and there may be some controversy around it.

Technology needs to be the leader on the way up, because it was the leader on the way down. Even though the earnings reports are miserable, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. That's what investors are looking at right now.

The unemployment claims declined a little, so that calmed some nerves. We saw some short-covering (buying of shares sold short) yesterday (Wednesday) and we may see more of that today, but I think people are holding their breath a little for the labor report tomorrow (Friday).

What really happened today is the retail sales report set the right tone, ... It appears that consumer spending is down.

The jobs report is the cornerstone of the week. But a lot happens ahead of it.

I think the bond market has already discounted a favorable report but not a negative report, ... If we see something less than 150,000, bonds will rally and stocks may, too.

The report will give investors some feeling in terms of wage trends, and inflation,

The fundamental environment, because we still have a whole host of earnings reports to come out, could work to slow the rally. But much of the pain and punishment has already been absorbed prior to the end of the quarter.

The rally in the first two weeks of January was based on expectations that we would have a decent reporting period. Largely, that's been true, with many earnings reports meeting or topping estimates. But unfortunately, the commentary about the future has been a huge downer. That's one of the things holding investors back now.

I think the story is going to be the same going forward. We're going to see the tech companies reporting well. But the high interest rates we've seen so far have undermined some of the financial stocks and drug stocks.