Argentina is not a potential nightmare. It’s a relatively small economy compared to Mexico and Brazil.

Inventories really being run down to ground, but that means that any increase in demand in the future will be translated into more production and jobs. We’re feeling the pain right now, but it means...

The economy fired on all cylinders in January.

I doubt that, just based on Friday’s number, they’ll pull the trigger. They’ll want to see a sustained period of inflation before they do that.

[Michigan’s] sample size is smaller, so it’s more volatile than Conference Board numbers, … I would view this more as a period of digesting all the spending they’ve done rather than a really significant setback...

In the summertime, we have a lot of plant shutdowns, especially in the auto industry. Despite that, we saw a drop in initial claims, … That’s indicating that the employment market has not only stabilized,...

For a while, everybody thought there would be no increase until year-end. They may hike rates sooner than we realize.

We’re still losing jobs, but the rate of loss is expected to slow, … That, hopefully, will be viewed that the economy is starting to improve.

Businesses are still awfully cautious about hiring. They used to hire in anticipation of increase in demand. [Now] they try to wait till the last minute.

This summer’s energy shock will cascade through the economy. A brutal winter heating season can’t be ruled out. Detroit is losing steam,

Two weeks ago traders thought there was no chance. If you had asked me Thursday, I would have said less than a 50 percent chance (of a December hike), at best I would have said...

To me, the key indicator is employment. We need to see at least three months of pretty hefty increases in employment before we’ll be able to say we’re out of woods,

I think the Fed is pretty much done for this economic cycle, unless some major catastrophe develops, such as a messy war in the Middle East or a housing bubble bursting.

The deflation concerns give ammunition to the president’s tax cut,

This is what economists call a simultaneous process, meaning that it works both ways.

A slight decline should not change the picture that much, … If you look at the fundamentals, despite all the negative news, consumers are in pretty good shape. The jobless rate is pretty low, and...

Clearly, the labor market is improving, and this should translate into more jobs in the future,

I don’t think businesses will hire more people in anticipation of higher demand. They want to see demand first. They feel they have the flexibility to increase production without hiring people.

The expectation is that the NAPM numbers should continue to improve and that the manufacturing recession is hopefully going away.

We knew the data collected after the attack was going to be weak, but I was a little dumbfounded by the fact that the numbers even before the attack were awfully weak, … Even before...

Construction spending is always a lagging economic indicator, especially in commercial construction, because of the time it takes to plan, execute and build. I expect housing to be a stabilizer, but commercial construction to be...

Employment gains really haven’t come from full-time workers. They’re coming primarily from part-time, temporary help, … Businesses are still trying to maintain flexibility by not hiring more expensive, full-time workers. That might be one of...

I think we should know about candidates’ desires and views, but I think it would be a mistake to assume that they will become reality.

Businesses are going to be waiting and seeing. The most important factor is how consumers behave, … The cost of capital is important, but in the final analysis, you’ve got to sell products. If you’re...

If they keep the word, the financial markets will like that, because the Fed has put itself in a self-imposed box. If they discard the word measured, they’ll be saying they’re free to do what...

We’re looking for the wording of the Fed’s statement to change in an encouraging direction. The economic numbers would argue for more optimism than caution at this point, … My expectation is that this economy...

What’s lacking is confidence, so businesses aren’t spending the money they have, … That’s why I don’t necessarily think it takes a huge fiscal stimulus package to get the economy moving.

Manufacturing could be a key driver of economic growth in the future, as opposed to being a big drag as we’ve seen in the past, … Even employment, which has been weak, should be coming...

It’s quite possible the Fed will have to turn around and raise rates.

For every 10-percent appreciation in the dollar, it cuts inflation by one full percentage point, assuming the strength of the dollar is sustained,

I’m not sure we will see a big revision in February; I won’t be surprised if we do not.

If oil goes to $50 a barrel, I think we’re talking about 3 percent economic growth, rather than 4 percent growth, possibly. And the jobless rate could actually go up, not down, because the long-term...

We’re going to get an economic boost from not only production, but from inventory buildup during the current quarter, and probably for the balance of this year.

The problem is that the stock market tends to predict downturns or upturns too early. The common joke is that the stock market predicted 11 out of the last nine recessions.

My concern is that inventories are so low, some businesses will actually miss sales through stock-outs.

All the pieces are in place to generate healthy economic growth for the balance of the year, … But so far, political and economic uncertainties have overshadowed the strengthening in corporate profits.

The bedrock of consumer spending and confidence is employment. The expectations of more jobs has boosted consumer confidence.

If prices remain where they are, and the rest of the economy performs well, that won’t be the end of the world,

Crowding out could become a distinct possibility in the future, pushing up interest rates significantly in 2005 and beyond,

The Japanese would argue that they never really intended to bend the trend of the dollar; they were just trying to make sure the dollar depreciated gradually, in an orderly fashion, … I suspect that’s...

A booming economic condition would result.

This report is a slow boat to China, reflecting continuing business caution about hiring people. Facing unprecedented competition from both domestic and foreign sources, businesses are still focused on productivity gains with as few employees...

The Fed is still likely to cut rates in August. Some of the more important measures [of economic strength], such as corporate profits, are moving in the wrong direction. The only real question is whether...

Even before the attack, the economy seems to have relapsed into the doldrums,

We notice it every day — when we go to gasoline stations, we pay more,

The stock market will remain depressed until layoffs stabilize and the resolution of the war on terrorism becomes clearer,

The problem is the bottleneck. The industry simply is not able to process the applications fast enough. They (homeowners) are trying to refinance…But the increase in demand will simply increase the waiting list.

It’s going to be very close to zero.

Clearly, the economic fundamentals of monetary and fiscal policies, as well as the falling value of the dollar, support a recovery. What we’re not sure of is how strong the recovery is going to be.

We know inventories are probably somewhere near the bottom, … Businesses are producing [goods], trying to not only meet demand, but also to rebuild inventories.