Overheard On The Street
Here’s what they’re saying at mid-day:
Phil Roth, Chief Technical Market Analyst,
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter: “I think the important events here in the last
couple of weeks were two climaxes, one last week and one this week. With a
climax or catharsis, they temporarily clean out the market, and that’s true of
technology stocks. It’s not true of much of the rest of the market, but with the
technology sector having been temporarily cleaned out and in a position to
recover, it gives the overall market background a favorable tone. So, I think
we’ve started some recovery. I don’t think this was a great bottom or a final
bottom, but it is an opportunity for some short-term recovery.”
Bob Zuccarro, Portfolio Manager, Grand
Prix Fund: “Despite the sharp downdraft in the first two weeks of October,
we’re still very positive about the market as a whole for not only the fourth
quarter, but for the year. If you go back historically, you’ll find that over
the course of the last 22 years, the market has provided a positive return in 20
of those 22 years. In addition, the market was negative in the second quarter,
was negative in the third quarter, and it would be very unlikely if it would
conclude this quarter with a loss because you have to go all the way back to
1974 to find a period when the market went down three quarters in a row.
“I think once we get into the Federal election, and it becomes clear who’s
going to win and what the policies are going to be, we will have the realization
that the world is not coming to an end, that despite six rate hikes, the economy
is still vibrant. There will likely be a soft landing and not a hard landing,
and probably the next direction of interest rate change will be down. Taking all
these factors together, we conclude that we are optimistic for the balance of
year 2000.”
Brian Belski, Fundamental Market
Strategist, U.S. Bancorp/Piper Jaffray: “Our channel checks with clients
over the past several days indicate that the majority of tax-loss selling has
likely already occurred. However, we do not dispute that there likely remain
some mutual funds that have yet to clean up their entire list. Right now, if the
market can continue to stabilize and/or rally into the end of the month, the
psyche of the market has the increasing potential to once again feel like it is
‘missing something,’ thus forcing investors to instead add to positions rather
than deplete.”