Greenspan Quotations | Page 2

I think the Fed will act aggressively. The timing remains to be seen, but both Main Street and Wall Street are pleading for further rate cuts, so I think Greenspan will respond. The sooner and deeper a rate cut, the sooner consumer and business confidence should improve.

I think the fact that Greenspan brought the issue of a declining dollar, global trade imbalances and protectionism to the forefront adds to the pressure today.

Labor costs were one of the key inflation concerns cited by Chairman (Alan) Greenspan in his latest testimony, ... Our outlook reinforces his concern.

I think we received some clarity there. I think we are done with the Greenspan hangover.

I think we have continued volatility until we really see signs of growth in the economy slowing. When we see the economy slowing, I think that people will be more comfortable with the fact that maybe Greenspan is not going to have to continue to raise rates, then I think the market can move ahead.

I think we're toward the end of a period of real weakness and, by the third quarter, all the money (Fed Chairman Alan) Greenspan and the Fed have been pumping out will start to be spent.

I think what really triggered the rally was the surprise cut by (Federal Reserve Chairman Alan) Greenspan in interest rates. But earnings have been good enough to continue the rally. Now the concern going forward is: Can earnings grow in 1999.

I think Bush's comments are having an impact as there are a lot of questions about how and when and who should deal with Iraq. But in the short term, the jobless claims and the comments from Greenspan have a bigger impact.

I think it's much more likely that Greenspan gives us a quarter-point cut, and then comes back at the November or December meeting with another quarter-point cut.

It gives the bond market a comfort level that you have a replacement just as vigilant on inflation as Greenspan was.

I think things went comparatively well today (Friday). The market has said and (Federal Reserve Chairman) Alan Greenspan has said that the recovery is another quarter away, that it's going to be the third quarter, not the second, which is what people had been thinking.

I will make continuity with the policies and policy strategies of the Greenspan Fed a top priority,

I think these numbers pretty much put a nail in the coffin of the notion that a 75 basis-point (three-quarters of a percentage point) cut will occur. I think (Fed Chairman Alan) Greenspan will get his wish for a move at the regular meeting, but they will do a 50 basis-point (half-point) cut.

I think (Fed Chairman) Alan Greenspan has made it all but official, we'll get another rate cut in June, but my guess is a quarter point rate cut, principally because of what we're seeing on the inflation report. The CPI and PPI have been trending up over the last two years.

I saw in Greenspan somebody who thinks differently about the world than I did. Over time, I watched this process and (realized) that's what gave Greenspan such an edge. The real edge he had is that he's fairly humble and realizes that no human being knows the answer, and he listens to market signals for guidance.

I see a lot of Greenspan in this housing boom. He encouraged low interest rates.

People are looking for commentary from Greenspan and other members of the Federal Reserve, ... Earnings have been great over the last year and half, but the market hasn't gone anywhere, and it's because the Fed's sitting on the market.

Our goals are to be able to save enough to send both kids to college and maintain a cash fund of around $10,000. We have to wait and see if Mr. Greenspan brings the interest rates back down.

Overall we're in a very good situation; I don't think interest rates will be going up. Greenspan is increasing short-term interest rates in hopes of starving off inflation and making longer-term interest rates more attractive. This is still an unbelievable situation. We have a buyers' market with historically low interest rates.

President Bush believes Chairman Greenspan is doing an excellent job, We don't speculate on personnel decisions.

President Bush believes Chairman Greenspan is doing an excellent job.

People often ask us, 'How should I take all this?' We'd just counsel prudence at this point. This is a good time for people not to stretch in what (Federal Reserve Chairman Alan) Greenspan calls exotic mortgages.

Market sentiment in the short end is probably more bearish than bullish -- people want to pick the end of the Fed ease cycle (and) expect Greenspan to signal things are on hold,

I think Mr. (Federal Reserve Chairman Alan) Greenspan is partially responsible for the latest decline in the market, because in his last testimony, he said something that was quite important, and I think he gave a wake-up call to the market. He said that they were - they had not made a decision yet about the August interest rates.

I think I'm probably in the minority that thinks that Greenspan may raise rates on Tuesday. I think the real case is a fact that the labor market is really tight and commodity prices have really increased.

I think Greenspan realizes that if he doesn't move tomorrow, he may have to do 50 basis points at the end of January, which could look panicky.

I think Greenspan is setting the market up for something much more palatable. If you get the Dow back to 6,500 or 6,600, and you take that real speculation out of the marketplace, people are going to receive the rate rise better. I think the market has a chance to rally after that.

I think Greenspan is just trying to let a little air out of the balloon. He is trying to say that even in a perfect economy and in this wonderful world of Wall Street there are pitfalls.

I think Greenspan basically said the obvious, that long rates are too low and against his desire for the economy to grow ... His comments indicated that the Fed will remain in a tightening stance and that we should see further raising as the year progresses.

It'd be fascinating to hear what he thinks, if he'd actually tell you. The guys who are most frequently mentioned for the job are all ivory tower types. I don't think anyone has the breadth and experience dealing with the business community as Greenspan did when he came on the job. Certainly they don't have as much experience as he accumulated in the past 17 years.

I think the stimulation that (Federal Reserve Chairman) Alan Greenspan has given to the economy is starting to take hold. It's going to take us a little while, by the third quarter, maybe even into the fourth quarter, we may see things do better.

The assumption is that a lot of the problems that we're seeing in the semiconductor industry now are related to the economy, and any move by Greenspan to shore up the economic situation we're seeing is going to be very beneficial.

We haven't seen big gains in jobs yet, so Greenspan can't be completely confident this expansion will be self-reinforcing, ... But I believe a blowout employment report is on the near-term horizon, and that will set the conditions for a change in interest rates.

While Alan Greenspan may have enjoyed more than his share of good luck during his storied tenure as Fed chairman, he was also confronted with a wide variety of challenges that required subtlety, a deft touch and good judgment.

Usually the Fed keeps raising rates until something goes wrong in the economy or the market. Even Alan Greenspan has never gotten it right.

Wage pressures seem to have subsided. However, ongoing solid growth and indications of price acceleration in certain segments of the economy could leave chief sleuth Greenspan with plenty of gum on his shoe.

With the Fed maintaining an economic-weakness bias, Greenspan is more likely to be concerned with the signs of further economic weakness in this report rather than worrying about the increase in average hourly earnings.

With the fastest productivity growth and biggest drop in unit labor costs in seven years, the numbers are certainly worth shouting about, but as yet we are far from convinced that much of the improvement is structural. Mr. Greenspan is of the same view, which is why rates are going up no matter what happens to productivity growth.

to maintain continuity with the policy and policy strategies under the Greenspan era.

We never had a conversation about which candidate Rick Greenspan liked. I gave him my opinion. I said, 'Steve Alford would be a great candidate.' I gave him my opinions. But it wasn't until recently that we had conversations about who was out there, who was available, who was interested, what our options were, that sort of thing. It hasn't been a very long time.

The problem is not what's going on now; things are wonderful -- it's what could potentially happen in the future that the Fed and Greenspan are protecting us from. The economy is chugging along at a pace that's really exceeding the speed limit and that could cause some damage in the long run.

The only risk out there is that Alan Greenspan will go one step too far and put us in a recession, ... And it's hard to see what he's doing now as putting us in a recession.

Weak employment growth but higher hourly earnings point Greenspan and the Fed in two different directions. Either the economy is slowing down and the Fed needs to sit tight, or inflation is starting to take off and another tap on the brakes may be necessary.

the policies and policy strategies established during the Greenspan years.

When Greenspan spoke the market rallied, and when he stopped it gave the gains back.

Volcker brought inflation down to about 4% -- Greenspan took it the rest of the way.

The data reflect that main concern that Mr. Greenspan has voiced in his recent comments, i.e., that with labor markets this tight, there is a real risk that compensation costs will accelerate faster than the ability of productivity gains to offset those costs, thus boosting unit labor costs and thereby generating price increases,

We're looking at added volatility this week because of the September 11th memorial Wednesday, George Bush addressing the U.N. and Greenspan speaking Thursday.

There are a lot of positives -- Intel said some good things; Greenspan is saying that oil prices are a wild card, which we knew already, but that inflation is under control. But we're mixed, bouncing around today (Wednesday). You've got big names coming out in the next day and you need some of these giants to say tech is improving.

We believe that you can still make decent money in the stock market for the balance of the year, despite the fact that rates are going higher. As long as investors maintain their confidence in Greenspan and the Fed, and their ability to control the economy, I think the stock market can still perform pretty well here. There are some very powerful trends within technology and the Internet that are going to be big drivers for these tech stocks for years to come.

This reminds me of the famous Sherlock Holmes mystery, where the dog that didn't bark was the key. It was what Greenspan didn't say more than what he did say that got the market excited. People were ready to hear a more upbeat reading on the economy than he gave.

When Ben steps down, we won't worry as much about the replacement. Greenspan never really left a playbook.

When Ben steps down, we won't worry as much about the replacement, ... Greenspan never really left a playbook.

We also like some of the others from the cyclical areas like in the industrials, some of the freight companies like FedEx and ... also in the consumer discretionary, automobiles still look like they're good, ... Traditionally they will outperform until the Fed begins to raise interest rates and Mr. Greenspan has postponed that for a few months. That gives companies like General Motors a little bit longer to run.

We had a euphoric day yesterday because the market thinks Mr. Greenspan is going to be benign today,

While Greenspan has very well defined views on inflation targeting and asset price targeting, he took a step back and left them as issues on the table for the next chairman.

There are several factors weighing on the dollar, among them the weak retail sales data and the feeling that Alan Greenspan was backtracking from his recent optimism on the U.S. economy. Greenspan's mention of the U.S. current account deficit has focused market attention on the problems associated with a strong dollar policy, particularly given the recent imposition of tariffs on U.S. steel imports.

When you get a new chairman in place you're going to have a more democratic and less predictable, less transparent Fed. The new chairman won't get the same automatic respect Greenspan has. It's not that (central bankers) will turn into a bunch of farm-yard animals, but there will be a more normal discussion going on.

The price action today's been technical rather than anything else. It's been far less about Greenspan than it's been about corporate and agency supply.

Financial markets are going to become uneasy about this because Alan Greenspan has become an oracle,

Until Greenspan speaks on Wednesday, dollar trading will be like a kindergarten's finger painting -- messy with not a lot thematic clarity,

We've had these ups and downs in terms of psychology. Greenspan saw that the global crisis was going to slow U.S. growth.

There is some concern that we could see a much more hawkish stance from the Fed and that Greenspan may spell out a little more tightening than the markets had priced after the January employment number.

What Greenspan had to say is very bullish -- he's saying let's have tax cuts sooner rather than later. If he's saying that, it leads me to believe he's going to give us a 50 basis point cut (half-percentage point). That means he thinks this economy needs all the stimuli it can get.

What Greenspan did well is he steered through these crises and came out with minimal damage to the economy. Over an 18-year period, we had just two short recessions and low inflation. That combination says he's done a good job.

When all is said and done, Greenspan is one of the people in Washington biting his fingernails the least right now. He can work with either of those guys.

When Alan Greenspan was a consultant in private practice, he once said what he did for a living was 'statistical espionage'

We will soon learn whether the Greenspan era has created a deep reservoir of faith in the Federal Reserve, or just in Alan Greenspan.

We think Mr. Greenspan is willing to give the data a chance; it will take bad data to force an August rate hike,

Both have probably as their biggest accomplishment deficit reduction. Both re-appointed Alan Greenspan to the Fed, both pursued free trade through NAFTA and the GATT.

Everyone's waiting for Wednesday, for (Federal Reserve Chairman Alan) Greenspan to make a decision,

At the end of the day, if Greenspan wants to solve the conundrum of low long-term yields, then raising the fed funds rate is not the answer,

Continuity is all but assured. The Fed has worked hard to win credibility and Greenspan is not going to throw it away in the final few months of his term.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan recently stated that increases in unit labor costs would be one of his major concerns if productivity falls as he anticipates.

(Fed Chairman Alan) Greenspan thinks consumer confidence is important, and if he thinks so I guess we should think so,

There's some nice symmetry because now we've taken back the 75 basis points Greenspan gave us last year. The Fed has been saying steady as she goes for the last few years if you add it all up, and maybe this is where we will stop.

There's little doubt out there that Greenspan will move this time around and try to put the brakes on growth a bit. The question is whether this is a one-time deal or a continuation of a series of moves meant to really keep the economy in line.

The view that the Fed can take a measured approach is supported by the Greenspan testimony today -- he reiterated that the measured approach is really the right medicine here.

The view in many markets is that we didn't hear too much new from Chairman Greenspan and there wasn't going to be any serious change in the investment environment in the near term.

The world economy has become much more open and global. Greenspan was in favor of all that, as most economists are.

It was very significant two years ago when Greenspan endorsed the first Bush tax cut plan. So his basically lukewarm attitude now, saying that some of these ideas are good things in principle, but not at the expense of large deficits, has to weigh heavily on those moderate Republicans.

The small improvement in labor market conditions, despite the continued risks that remain on this front, do suggest that even with all the caveats that Greenspan echoed in his latest testimony ... the Fed might be inclined to move towards a neutral risk bias.

The talk is that the Fed is going to be getting more aggressive soon, and may start raising rates by 50 basis points at a time. It's not going to happen this time, because (Fed Chairman) Alan Greenspan knows he needs to prepare the market for this in advance.

Sometimes Greenspan tends to spin a web when he's talking, so I am not sure how many hints he'll give about the size and speed of interest rate hikes.

Right now, the transparency we had with (former Chairman Alan) Greenspan is gone. We're trying to get some semblance of which way the Fed is going to go.

Perhaps it's a function of the fears that (Fed Chief Alan) Greenspan has already gone too far (with interest-rate hikes) and the worst news is yet to come.

Productivity has been this huge issue for the market, and people remember Greenspan highlighting it in the 1990s.

People are still nervous about the interest rate climate and how much and when Greenspan and company will raise rates.

The Nasdaq slipped below 1,300 yesterday and that means the market has returned to the level when Federal Reserve Chairman (Alan) Greenspan warned of inflated U.S. stock prices as 'irrational exuberance' in 1996.

After Greenspan changed the language in the statement last time, there is some apprehension about what he'll say,

After discussing all the risks, Greenspan summed up by saying the share of households who are very highly leveraged is lower than expected and is not correlated closely with high home price states, other than California.

The most provocative interpretation (of this change) is that market participants anticipated that the Committee was going to become more democratic once Greenspan departed, and hence began to pay more attention to the comments by other FOMC members.

The most provocative interpretation is that market participants anticipated that the committee was going to become more democratic once Greenspan departed, and hence began to pay more attention to the comments by other FOMC members.

Depending on what the CPI shows and what Greenspan says, the market has pretty much decided that we won't see a rate hike at the end of the month or through the rest of the summer and, therefore, there might be a quarter point (hike) some place but the Fed's pretty much done,

The bottom line is that Greenspan is in no way signaling that the Fed's tightening ballgame against inflation is nearly over.

Alan Greenspan was one of the most revered and successful public figures of our time, and there are many who are anxiously awaiting what he wants to say.

Alan Greenspan was an institution for financial markets worldwide.

Alan Greenspan tends to give a tougher talk in a speech when he is not going to raise rates than he does when he is going to raise rates. He either barks or he bites, and I think he is barking.

Alan Greenspan sat at the top of one of most important institutions for 18-1/2 years. He saw all the major events. He met all the major players. He was involved in all the significant debates.

Alan Greenspan once said to me . . . that he was really upset that when our Fed chairman died, nobody cared. It wasn't even the 'A' story.