Hugh Johnson Report Quotations

Yesterday's weak ISM number shows the manufacturing sector is just limping along. Another report this week suggests that Friday's August employment report may not be very good. Worries about the economy resurface and are reflected in stocks,

Although they were close to expectations and maybe a little bit weaker, the numbers confirm that the economy generally is slowing, ... The report also confirms that the manufacturing sector of the economy is contracting.

Everybody is waiting for the employment report on Friday. The belief is that the economy is rebounding from the sluggish fourth quarter. We will know on Friday.

The ISM report was good news in two ways. There's a big difference between contraction and a slowdown; and the number still showed expansion.

It's a reasonably accepted conclusion that the Fed will raise rates in both June and August; that's what the market has discounted. I don't know if Friday's employment report will change that, no matter what it says.