What rate concerns ??? No inrease soon.
john:
I see someone has already posted Guru Kumar's comments..the man is nuts with his sequential bull crap.I don't pay too much attention to him any more,rather listed to Michael Dell and his plans than some schmuck analyst.<g>
Now on today's worry of inflation fear and rate increase in another piece of bull. Here are some comments published by Bloomberg today.
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Excerpted from Bloomberg.
No Increase Soon
To be sure, analysts say the Fed probably won't do anything
for the first half of 1999. That's reflected in federal funds
futures, with the June contract yielding 4.81 percent. The yield
is 6 basis points above the Fed's 4 3/4-percent target for
overnight bank lending, a sign that investors don't expect the
central bank to move its target at least through June.
Also arguing against a rate increase soon is the fact that
inflation, the chief concern of the Fed, is slow. Consumer prices
rose 1.6 percent in 1998, the smallest in 12 years. The inflation
gauge used in calculating gross domestic product, known as the
deflator, rose at a 0.8 percent annual rate in the last three
months of 1998 -- the smallest since 1959.
...............
A jobs report today added even more evidence that the
expansion has room to go. The Labor Department said claims for
jobless insurance fell to 292,000 in the week ended Jan. 30 from
301,000 the week before. Economists expected an increase. It's
''another number pointing to sustained strength in the economy,''
Shepherdson said.
Tomorrow, a report on the U.S. employment will likely show
the economy added more jobs in January, leaving the jobless rate
near a 28-year low, analysts said. Jobs probably rose by 138,000
last month, after a larger-than-expected 378,000 gain in
December. |
