It’s big because it’s at a very substantial premium and it means something toward the world of further consolidation in brokerage. I think people are going to be scouring to see what could be next.

Every piece of bad news that comes out in the market … is ignored, … looking forward to 2002, in the second-half, when a recovery is going to be in effect.

I think we really have to get to the next Fed meeting before anything significant happens. We have to see the emphasis on a slowing economy, and that’s key to seeing that there won’t be...

The story (this) week is: Does it hold it or will it break it.

There was nothing Greenspan said that was harsh and sometimes no news is good news,

Growth stocks on the large cap front with perceived consistent earnings can be looked at as better values.

At the same time, there is this increased market volatility that exaggerates these swings.

I think there’s a concern about the economy so I think you’ll see conciliatory talk (from Fed governors). We seem to rally into Fed meetings so I would expect a slightly upward bias.

The reaction [to the Fed minutes] was very emotional, and it is still undecided whether 5% is the end. We look at gold and commodities. These are inflation indicators.

It was exactly what Wall Street thought. The wording was exact — no hike, sees inflation risk ahead, recent data shows moderating slowdown is still tentative and preliminary, and leaves open (a) rate hike in...

There’s going to be this flip-flop next week and continually until we get through earnings season, going from earnings to worrying about the economic slowdown and what inflation brings so I think next week is...

There’s been a decisive shift to the upside in market sentiment. The Dow has done its job and it has made a statement of recovery based upon defensive-style spending, cyclicality and the absence of accounting-related...

There’s worry about higher interest rates. The bond market has been very weak, and we can assume the higher interest rates are signs of a rebounding economy. This gives people a feeling of comfort, but...

I think this week’s performance has been very indicative of a bottom. The market made a lot of sense this week, since the Fed really helped to ensure the positive psychology that is needed to...

The market is going to want to see in those numbers some clues that the PC market is picking up post-Y2K.

It is profit warnings and it’s taking down more of the market than it probably should. The profit warnings are very specific to stocks that have not been performing well anyway.

I think to an extent we’ve taken for granted the last few Fed meetings, and next week’s meeting takes on more significance, … A quarter-point hike is pretty much expected, but I think the relative...

Traders are just lightening their positions a little bit. The holidays are compressing the activity and I think most of the (options) rolling over you saw yesterday.

Trading is going to be dominated by waiting for the Federal Reserve Board. We still expect the Fed to go a quarter of a percentage point, and no change in language.

The market is built on momentum and liquidity, … And when the market comes down, if you want to [look at] the sectors that are undervalued, value stocks [under those circumstances] — they’re not going...

It is quite astounding. One week revenue-based companies are forbidden (psychologically) from investors’ minds and one week later, as interest rate (fears) return, technology (stock) is the place to be because they are less affected.

The bias for today and tomorrow should still be to the upside because of the end of the quarter when you get portfolio adjustments.

The economy is already slowing down without the impact of that 50 basis point hike last month, and I think what you have to look at here is the ending of the interest rate cycle....

It’s going to attract buyers on any pullback.

The only way I can see why the market is not reacting to several negatives out there is the anticipation of one more (rate) hike and we’re done.

The media sector is a great sector to be in,

I think there are going to be opportunities to buy the weakness because I think the pre-release season will dominate again ? I don’t think there’s going to be a significant drop, though. There are...

Most of the growth stories are not performing today and that is how we’ll go into the Fed meeting. There’s still very little conviction in the market.

You have a market on eggshells. The stories that make the rounds are being treated as sell first and then worry about whether they’re true.

This is more of a short-term perspective and I don’t see any commitment by institutions. But a diversified portfolio is doing well here.

I believe the Fed will engineer this slowdown and it won’t result in a hard landing,

Everybody expects people to come back from vacation and the activity to start. The first day is a very lackluster day and people are just getting used to stuff.

It’s certainly related to the financial sector going down. There is increasing concern that there will be more earnings misses or pre-announcements coming out. A lot of this is (also) options-related.

The retail sales numbers we saw should have presumed a rally but we had some selling in Hewlett-Packard and NBC Internet. During the day, people started to realize that retail sales were good news.

It’s very focused on the Intel and IBM story today but it’s a fairly flat trading day, … All we’ve done is gain back a little bit of the massive losses. The damage is still...

Higher interest rates are an impediment to companies where cost is important and that’s Old Economy stocks, … What we are seeing is a defensive move into technology stocks.

I don’t think it changes any [Fed] decision making as we go into Tuesday’s meeting. We are still looking at one-half a percentage point hike. This is the first of the important numbers that determines...

(Microsoft) has been trading like the company (had already) lost the antitrust case against the government. The stock has been extremely weak compared to its sector and especially since the company has already reported earnings.

We seem to go from worries about the economy slowing down to appreciating that the economy remains strong and can bounce back from slower fourth-quarter GDP growth.

The likelihood of inflationary pressures is increasing. The likelihood that the (Federal Reserve) is going to do something is increasing.

Today’s market is comforting in that it’s back a bit, but it just doesn’t have the feel of yesterday having made a bottom.

We think 3.5 percent is a good point for the Fed to take a break to measure the economy and the impact of its rate hikes. If the economy does appear to be picking up,...

I think the movement we’ve seen since the beginning of the year, with a few weeks up, a few weeks down, is likely to continue at least through the end of the quarter.

The market did improve with the housing data. Market trends day to day are really influenced by how the bonds have been trading. When the rates have gone up, equities have suffering, when rates have...

The price of energy should spook investors. So far, the market is foolishly accepting of the price of oil without a negative reaction as long as it doesn’t break out to a new high.

The traditional year-end rally didn’t happen this year and the ‘January Effect’ doesn’t look like it’s going to occur. This is just a wait-and-see market right now that will continue to be driven by important...

It is just an affirmation that the Nasdaq represents the growth sector of the investment universe. That is where much money is being put to work the last month.

This is clearly a number on wage inflation that the market did not want to see. It’s clearly disturbing to see wages at this level and I think it’s going to weigh on the market...

I want to see more comments from the CEO saying things are stabilizing, … The market has its test coming in the next four-to-six weeks.

The problems are the same: Interest rates are high, and the economy is strong. It is affecting those sectors that are credit sensitive.