Cary Leahey Quotes (32 Quotes)

That, combined with no job growth, makes it harder and harder for the Fed to pull the trigger in an election year.

Bond prices rose because the market was excited at the idea that the number of further rate hikes needed would not necessarily be large. The market is thinking that the Fed has two more rate hikes to go.

You got a favorable surprise on the CPI. We had the first decline in the core rate in 21 years, ... It just reminds the Fed, which said last week that the risks of inflation and deflation were almost equally balanced, that you still have some very residual deflation risk. And it ... supports the notion that the Fed might not have to raise interest rates at all next year.

It was one of the biggest surprises that I've seen in some time.

The report is probably a shade on the weak side and it increases the chance that the Fed is more likely to stop raising rates at 4.75 percent at the middle of the year, rather than going higher.

It's hard to say whether a company like Home Depot would be better off with a falling unemployment rate and rising interest rates or vice versa,

Even though the PPI has accelerated, it hasn't passed over to consumer goods prices, and it hasn't passed through into wage gains. So as long as you have a great story on labor costs with productivity, you can't really have an inflation story.

Ten years from now, they might both become first-tier numbers. But I doubt it.

These are the kinds of things that raise eyebrows at the Fed. The implication that this January report has for wage inflation is bothersome to the market and the Fed.

I wouldn't make a lot out of those figures.

A Fed move in late summer is a high probability bet right now.

Economists have to worry that if consumer sentiment remains depressed, spending could follow that down and you could have a much weaker outcome (in terms of economic growth.

Companies aren't afraid of being left in the dust they're afraid that if they go first they'll be eaten by sharks, ... Everybody is standing in front of the turnstile, and nobody wants to go through.

The economy hit a brick wall in February and March. The risk of a recession is higher now than I thought it would have been six months ago. It's higher now than I thought it would have been six weeks ago.

The bond market doesn't really care about the payrolls data now because you're even getting the crazy question asked about whether the Fed can ease.

We're not talking about large sums of money. It is ironically only worth a couple of dollars to the Social Security check of the average American. They may be able to knock back a cold beer in a cheap bar.

The Fed might skip (raising rates in) September -- but you have to remember that how the world looks today and how it looks on September 20 could be a lot different -- a lot worse or a lot better.

This is one of the days when nobody is really going to care because the employment report was definitely weak.

But ... the trend in unit labor costs is still declining and I would argue that the market and the Fed will say that this is a one-time surge.

I lean toward a half point instead of a quarter. The Fed wants to shore up confidence, to show that, unlike the European Central Bank, it feels your pain.

It's certainly an impressive number, it's the lowest since early 2001.

The PPI number had some pipeline pressure underneath the surface, but the market liked the fact that the core rate was up only 0.1 percent,

The important thing is not whether the Fed can ease but the fact that people can even ask that question and some intelligent people say if the Fed raises rates in September, it would be a public relations disaster.

The first quarter is off to a very strong start. This will dominate some of the disappointing numbers we got earlier this week, at least in terms of forecasting GDP. On the inflation front, the Fed got a little more breathing room.

Yet another survey of the economy is suggesting sustainable strength. Rates backed up a little because of this report, but you're treading water a bit because of payrolls data lurking on Friday.

But I would not treat it as a sign that consumer spending is falling apart and that we will have a weak first half of the year.

Clearly Greenspan's luster has dimmed, and there's this worry that he's fired a lot of bullets and the bullets he has left won't do any good.

Unit labor costs were up 3.5 percent which, if sustained, would suggest increased labor cost pressures down the road.

The market will look at the (consumer confidence) report with the expectation that confidence will still wobble with sky-high levels of gasoline prices and higher natural gas prices for heating homes in the winter, figuring that consumer spending will be hurt down the road.

It takes pressure off the Fed to hike interest rates more dramatically than a quarter point in August or put together a more forcefully worded statement next week at its monetary policy meeting,

The bond market took this report as a sign that core inflation may be bottoming and the Fed may still be in the tightening business later this year,

It's an impressive number. It just gives you more confidence that you'll get 4.0 percent plus (increases) in the fourth quarter and you'll hang in there through the first.