Overheard On The Street
Here’s what they’re saying at
mid-day:
Robert
Bender, President, Robert Bender & Associates: “Regarding Fed
policy, the Fed has cut interest rates four times now. We think that there is a
good possibility that we will see another 100-125 basis points decline over the
rest of the year. We might see 50 in May, we might see another 50 in June. The
next meeting after May is July and we might see something else in July.
The reason for this is because the economy sucks. But with the economy
sucking, performing the way it is, it is a real plus for investors.
“It always has been so
since 1929 as investors look for opportunities when the Fed is in a state of
panic. It’s almost like being a windsurfer with the wind at your back and you
are on a gigantic wave. Don’t go against the Fed when the Fed is cutting
rates. The Fed will make sure that this economy functions. There is a lot at
stake; reputations among other things.â€
Scott
Bleier, Chief Investment Strategist, Prime Charter Limited: “The
market has been consolidating last week’s gains, yet staying within that range,
and the bias has been to the upside with little or no fanfare. It’s been a broad
rally that is not really on the backs of the traditional leadership stocks like
the over-owned, over-valued big mega-cap tech names. It’s really been much more
broad, and it’s because over the last couple of days, there has been the end of
the month to look forward to after the best month we have seen in over a year.
“While there are legitimate
fundamental worries going forward from a corporate profit perspective, the
market is actually receiving money that is being put to work. We are in the
process of trying to establish the higher end of our near term trading range,
and I don’t think we are there yet. I think Dow 11,000 and Nasdaq 2500 will be
very doable targets in the next 30 days.”
Brian Belski, Fundamental Market
Strategist, U.S. Bancorp/Piper Jaffray: “We believe a third consecutive
week of inflows into Equity Funds is providing credibility to the stock market’s
recent solidification. However, consistent inflows into growth dominated Equity
Funds remain the key in our opinion, especially considering the recent disdain
for growth investing. Therefore, we believe such data provides evidence that
more and more investors are actually beginning to reallocate investment dollars
again.”