Overheard On The Street
Here’s what they’re saying at mid-day:
Dennis Jarrett, Chief Market Analyst,
Jarrett Investment Research: “Today’s activity is almost a continuation of
yesterday, which is digestion of some of the recent gains. From the positive
side, there’s no heavy selling in technology and the Nasdaq. Unfortunately, from
the negative side, there’s no enthusiasm or buying. I don’t believe Greenspan
will do anything before the March 20 Fed meeting regardless of what the
employment numbers show tomorrow. Right now, though, the market is just sort of
dead in the water.”
John Roque, Vice President, Arnhold and
S. Bleichroeder: “In baseball you sometimes say a pitcher is ‘sneaky fast.’
It usually means the guy has good breaking stuff but he mixes in a fastball once
in a while to keep you off balance, and because you’re looking for his off-speed
pitches, the fastball looks like it has a little extra giddy-up on it.
“Group work over the last few days has shown a few candidates that we’re
going to call ‘sneaky fast,’ meaning improvement within the group is occurring
for nearly all constituents and it is occurring without being readily embraced
by many investors. Our list of sneaky groups includes auto parts, chemicals,
furniture and appliances, housewares, hardware and tools, gold, paper and forest
products, photography, retailers, and truckers.”