New Yorkers of a certain age will recognize the expression
above. Translated into ordinary English it means "Do not
take unnecessary chances".
The stock market has turned up for the short run, but there
is precious little to confirm the upturn. Moreover, although
Friday was a strong up day, the market failed to take out
short term resistance set the prior Friday, after having
it clearly in its grasp. For some traders, the weakness
before the close was a sell signal.
The ambivalence seen in the market reflects a wider sense of
uncertainty. Investors do not know whether they have seen all
of the fallout from the subprime mortgage fiasco, nor are
they so confident that the economy and corporate profits will
escape this financial debacle relatively unscathed. In his
speech yesterday to economist conferees in Jackson Hole, WY
Fed Chair Bernanke cautioned that only the "timeliest"
incoming economic data warrants strong attention and further
stated "the uncertainty surrounding the outlook will be
greater than normal, presenting a challenge to policymakers
to manage the risks to their growth and price stability
objectives." That statement made clear that the Fed would
take steps to ease policy quickly if the economy seems to be
faltering or on the verge of doing so.
So, let's see what the freshest data tells us over the next
week or two...
No comments:
Post a Comment