Diane Swonk
Diane Swonk
anyone consumer darn hard losing sleep wrong
It's hard to kill this darn consumer, isn't it? Anyone who is losing sleep over the consumer is losing sleep over the wrong thing.
adding certainty chaotic
It's all part of adding certainty in a chaotic situation.
balanced chance decision include interest move pat recession risks standing talk terms
It will be very interesting to see Fed's decision today, which may include them standing pat in terms of no move on interest rates, and there is chance here they will now talk about risks being balanced between recession and recovery,
christmas far market seen tired
I think the market is tired of Christmas. We've already seen the Christmas reports. As far as the market is concerned, that's old news.
cold consumers early relatively sales snap spending strong suggesting vehicle winter
It's all vehicle sales and gas. Chain-store sales were relatively strong during the month, suggesting consumers diverted their vehicle spending to other sectors. We also had a cold snap which prompted early spending on winter wear.
closely goes latter longer push resembles saw
The longer this goes on ... the more closely it resembles the inflationary push that we saw in the latter part of the 1960s.
falling fed light reason sit soft
The Fed will sit on its hands. There's really no reason to do otherwise. The economy's falling into place as the Fed thought -- it's in a soft spot, with some light at the end of the tunnel.
economic faced kinds rule thrown
He has faced many different kinds of economic environments. He has thrown away any kind of rule of thumb.
activity bit confidence consumer february grain january numbers partial quite recovery strong
I think you have to take the January numbers with a bit of a grain of salt. Consumer confidence is still quite strong and I think we'll see at least a partial recovery in activity in February and through the spring.
aftermath effect fallout labor market
In the aftermath of Katrina, the effect on the labor market from the fallout has been limited.
economy good
If we are in an economy that is weakening ... that's not good for profits.
meetings move shore
If they move between meetings it's usually a move to shore up confidence.
gained raise saying
There's nothing to be gained by saying anything right now, ... there's a lot of uncertainty... over how long it will have to raise rates.
collapse consumer recession unusual
This is a very unusual recession in that the consumer did not collapse and incomes are in the black,