I'm not quite sure how he thought it was an economic deal at $5 ... I don't think that's the case.
This trend of the stabilization of the broad stock market we've been seeing lately will continue through the year. We saw a sharp recovery in stock prices last year, but right now stocks are fairly valued versus the underlying fundamentals.
Gas prices are going to keep rising and that's going to have a negative impact on consumer spending and consumer sentiment.
Earnings growth for the S&P 500 continues to be robust, and could end up beating north of 10 percent for the year.
My preference would be to see a dramatic increase in the dividend; I think they'd get more bang for their buck. They clearly have the financial capability to triple it; I think they could attract more investors and get a higher stock price more readily.
I think now that that is digested, people are looking at some reasonable values; our view is that crude oil prices are going to remain high.
The earnings reports are going to be the big driver in the next few weeks. What companies say they earned in the fourth quarter is going to be less important than what they say about the rest of the year.
