Mark Vitner
Mark Vitner
account adjustment came causes data employment gauge hard hiring holiday later might november numbers problem thanksgiving wider year
The problem with the November employment numbers is hiring for the holiday season. It's hard to get a gauge of what it's going to be. They do a seasonal adjustment to the number to account for that, but the seasonal adjustment causes wider swings. And this year Thanksgiving came later in the month, so hiring might have started after the November data was collected.
continue fed inflation interest paid prices raise running
The prices paid is still way up there, inflation is still running a little hot, enough that the Fed will continue to raise interest rates.
building business consumer driven economy home shifting spending
We're shifting from an economy driven by consumer spending and home building to one driven by business investment.
both created jobs quality quantity seeing
We're seeing both the quantity and quality of the jobs being created improving.
belief bleed core energy eventually people prices quarter seen
People keep asking, 'How can it be that we haven't seen energy prices bleed over into the core?' ... Our belief is that it will eventually show up in the core CPI, but it may not show up in 2005. It may be in first quarter of 2006.
commodity costs cyclical hard household passing profit raw squeeze time user
It suggests there could be a profit squeeze in some of the cyclical industries, ... Autos. Household appliances. Anything that has a lot of raw commodity in it. The end user is going to have a hard time passing those costs on to the consumers.
disturb hear interest rates sure
I'm not too sure we're going to hear that much that will disturb markets, but I'm sure he'll say at least something hinting that long-term interest rates are too low,
accounting company markets pension surprising
But pension accounting is awfully complicated and it's an awfully big company, so it's not surprising the markets would get a little spooked by it.
continues defy demand doom housing quite record remains strong year
It continues to defy all the expectations of doom in the housing market. Demand for housing still remains quite strong and this year will be a record year for single-family construction.
accounts motor overall percent rebound retail rise sales vehicle
A rebound in motor vehicle sales accounts for much of December's 0.7 percent rise in overall retail sales and is also responsible for much of November's upward revision.
increase inflation meaningful numbers pick rent
If we see an increase in rent we could really see inflation numbers pick up in a meaningful way.
federal larger money response spent
The federal response has been much larger than we thought it would be, ... And the money is being spent much more quickly.
coming consumer disaster faster help hit minimize money natural relief
The relief money is coming in much faster than it has for any other natural disaster that I can remember. That should help minimize some of the hit on consumer spending,
breathing fed gives interest room
It gives the Fed a little more breathing room on interest rates, that's the most I can say.