Richard Cripps Quotations

What this does is it keeps buyers away. It's a lack of buyers. And they would prefer some certainty.

We're facing the realization that rising (interest) rates and rising stock prices are incompatible. The higher rates are really starting to make themselves felt.

Whenever the market is as oversold as it is right now, it's typically been a good idea to do some buying. The question is what to buy and the lack of a 'go to' area is keeping investors on the sidelines.

We've set up a situation where a 25 basis point (a quarter percentage point) cut is good but you're looking at a market that's desperate.

We've seen a noticeable pickup in concern over the last two months.

The reality is setting in on the AOL/Time Warner deal.

People want to own these (technology) stocks. And that's what limits any significant drop on these stocks and it's what puts pressure on the remainder of the market.

From a trading desk standpoint, you'd rather be long (own stocks) here than short, and that starts to build its own dynamic and attract its own level of interest. The market is oversold and selling pressure is easing.

There is a lack of buyer conviction. The whole dynamic of the Nasdaq rise and correction is, in a broader sense, an inflection point. But investors just view it as weakness.

Good earning growth. Next year, their earnings will be about $1.90 (per share). That's just 10 times this year's current stock price.

There are no signs here that give you the impression that the selling pressure has bottomed. There's just not a lot of conviction out there.

There is an underlying bullish tone. We continue to see the action on the downside, in terms of force, to be not as great as what it's been on the upside. (The reports) didn't really change anything.

This was a good, constructive quarter. The market overcame two problem areas: the Fed raising interest rates and high oil prices.

Keep in mind most people are now working into the next quarter. The window dressing that has been powering the market may be gone.

I think it's more a result of a fear of buyers being left behind.

I think (the market) needs the ECI price deflator numbers coming in at acceptable levels, meaning that they don't raise the fear of inflation, it needs the Fed not raising interest rates in August and as we move toward the fall, continuing signs that the economy is moderating and that inflation is low.

I think you are near (capitulation) at the moment and you are getting close to the bottom. Technology stocks are driven on the expectation and we're in a period now where expectations are being lowered. What you'll have happen is stocks will react to the fact that expectations are too low.

I think that the correction that we've seen in the market averages, in the Nasdaq, is probably reflecting an inflection point for the equity market that's going to be not as focused on technology. It's going to be shifting more into the broader segments of the equity market.

I think if you are bullish here, you go back and look to the last time the Fed eased up on interest rates which was 1995, which, of course, was a good year for investors. The S&P shot up almost 35 percent. So using that as a guide, some investor think that is what we're going to see.

I would let this play out as opposed to trying to be brave and buying here.

Wal-Mart highlights an economic transition from relying on consumers to relying on the private sector and capital spending. So, we're looking more at companies like Caterpillar rather than Wal-Mart.

We're looking at a 12 percent decline in earnings this year for the S&P 500, and that's the sharpest decline we've had since the last recession. The confidence level that one has in looking at those earnings is very low.

We have good optimism out there and that's always the time to think about what dark clouds are out there.

The question today is more opportunistic. The question is exactly where can I be a buyer of America Online ( AOL ) or some of these other stocks that have been weakened?

Tradition drives these international markets very, very hard. The concept is interesting, but inevitably, they will find it as difficult, if not more difficult than Europe.

You get a kick in the market that draws in the buyers. I think we're in a trading range and are getting into the bottom half of that trading range.

Either the fundamentals have to grow much faster or the stock has got to come down.

Between October and March, the Nasdaq has almost doubled in price. Even these companies that have been cut in half are still three or four times more than they were a year ago.

And while you are waiting, you get a 3 percent yield and one of the strongest balance sheets in corporate America.

Putting it in context, it wasn't a great display of bullishness one would assume.

Probably in the short term we're a little ahead of ourselves. We don't have any earnings visibility and we won't until the fourth quarter.

The Nasdaq is simply crowding out the rest of the market. If you are a portfolio manager, you have to own some of these (technology) names.

The Nasdaq is increasingly driven by a lot of day-to-day momentum players. Technically, (the Nasdaq) was oversold and they came rushing in. I think it's more of a bounce from yesterday's sharp sell-off.

Any major calamity we've witnessed, the banks have been some of the best performers.

You've lost your earnings catalyst so we're moving away from the second quarter. With the economy moderating you're looking at earnings estimates that are too high and have to come down.

You're getting money flowing back into some of these big stocks and the tone is good. What's powering it is optimism that at some point and time, we're going to get this final turn in earnings -- it's buying with the thought that you don't fight the Fed.

This is the nature of bear markets. There are usually two steps forward, one step back.

It's all driven by Microsoft at this point.

It's the analogy of the straw and the camel's back. We keep loading the camel's back with straw and higher energy prices and interest rates. It's probably going to be what's good for oil is going to be bad for the rest of the market.

The big fundamental for financial markets is the economy and earnings beyond interest rates.

I'm of the view that the Nasdaq really goes into a consolidation, and historically, for technology, it really performs fairly poorly in the April-to-June time frame. So my view is that Nasdaq, on the whole, pretty much always goes into a consolidation pattern, not much upside from the current level.

Clearly there's some issues over earnings this quarter.

But I think that the global picture in 1995 was a little bit more murky than it is today. Economy was slower than today. As we look at the world scene it is actually quite good. A lot of foreign economies are expected to grow a little bit faster than the U.S. economy this year. So that is a major difference. And again it probably keeps the Fed from decreasing or cutting interest rates anytime soon.

GE has laid out a fairly consistent earnings picture and the key will be to see if its timeline remains intact. Any change from that will be news.

The key area to watch is what financial stocks will do. They've been performing well and it's clearly a pattern of higher highs. If they take this (interest rate hike) well, my confidence that we're getting to the end of these Fed hikes will increase.

Analysts generally can talk to companies during the first two weeks of the last month of the quarter so what we'll be looking at is the beginning of the earnings pre-announcements or commentary for the third quarter.

The markets are getting oversold and typically you're at levels where markets that are this oversold can have pretty good rallies. I think investors are cognizant of the fact that things are weak, but they also don't want to miss an incredible rally if one occurs.