Steven Wood January Quotations

Some of the December strength and January weakness appears to be related to Y2K precautions; the (Federal Open Market Committee) will need a lot more evidence of a slowdown in consumer spending than this to convince them that further tightening is not warranted,

Inventory building is slightly stronger in January and February than it was in 4Q, suggesting that inventory investment is likely to add modestly to Q1 GDP growth,

This was the first time that the January budget has been in deficit since 1992.

The January gain in construction spending was surprisingly weak given the recent strength in housing starts and unseasonably warm weather.