Overheard On the Street
Here’s what they’re saying at mid-day:
John Trammell, Managing Director,
Argonaut Capital Management: “Today it’s about Dell and some downgrades to
Intel and Dell, but more than anything, this is a continuation of nervousness
brought on by the foreshadowing of a slowdown in the economy, particularly at
the consumer level. Witness Best Buy yesterday. And the background for this
nervousness is getting bleaker as all eyes are glued to the television screens
to find out what the latest is in our own Presidential election.
“I think Americans are upset that it appears, at least, that this is
going to drag out at least until December 18 when the electoral college votes,
and that there’s still going to be a lot of nastiness between the parties as we
go into the inauguration about whether the election was honestly contested or
not. The combination of a slower economy with this continued confusion about the
election is enough to keep stocks from going much of anywhere.”
Greg Parise, General Partner, Dorado
Capital Management LLC: “The market was doing a great job of absorbing
negative news over the last week-and-a-half or two weeks. It was showing you all
the signs of strength in a market that wanted to go higher, and then obviously
with the election throwing a wrench into that scenario, I think that that’s
really the overhang. People were getting excited about stocks and were looking
for a fourth-quarter rally, but some big names disappointed.
“Dell’s negative guidance is clearly an overhang, and I think you’re
just seeing some big companies with some negative news, and coupled with the
election results it’s a big deal. I do think if either camp comes out and says
that when the Florida votes and the absentee ballots come in, that they will be
conceding to whoever wins Florida. I think the market’s knee-jerk reaction will
be a violent rally.”
Brian Belski, Fundamental Market
Strategist, U.S. Bancorp/Piper Jaffray: “Three times over the past four
years, the stock market has encountered a crisis during the months of October
and/or November. In 1997 it was the Asian Crisis, in 1998 the currency crisis,
and this year it’s the election crisis. Admittedly, we made the same deduction a
few weeks ago when both the Middle East situation and oil prices were peaking.
But we believe the current political crisis and the uncertainty adjacent to it
is the kind of deep, left field surprise whose final resolution should signal
the end of the market’s woes of the past ten weeks.”