30 Jan 2004

Posted at 16:13h in The Friday Brief by
If you watched any financial news or commentary at all this week you could not have missed the attention given to whether or not the Fed would continue to use the phrasing “considerable period” in their prepared comments.  The words have appeared in their remarks for several months conveying to the financial world that they were prepared to keep interest rates low for an indefinite period to sustain a less-than-robust economic recovery.  The phrase was dropped on Wednesday and replaced with the words can “be patient” before raising rates. 

23 Jan 2004

Posted at 16:18h in The Friday Brief by
This holiday-shortened week has been a busy one for corporate earnings reports and management comments.  The World Economic Forum inDavos,Switzerlandhas also been a major focus of investors.  Almost without exception the numbers have been exceptionally positive, but the ever-present cautionary tone kept market enthusiasm in check.

16 Jan 2004

Posted at 16:24h in The Friday Brief by
Earnings and economic reports are coming in more consistently than was the case several weeks ago.  The recovery looks to be sustainable with some noticeable trends taking shape.

09 Jan 2004

Posted at 16:26h in The Friday Brief by
This week stocks investors started the year with conviction as the NASDAQ reached a 2 ½ year high yesterday and a few companies saw their stocks rise more this week than all of last year.  Early selling this morning gave way to buying as investors were cheered by the announcement by TomRidge