Stuart Hoffman Report Quotations

I think the report was quite strong and will ultimately be positive for stocks.

When you take out transportation, the report should look stronger. In total, manufacturing orders are quite strong, and that reflects a lot of capital spending going on among businesses.

The stock and bond markets are looking at the report and seeing the signs of strength, and they know the Fed is doing the same.

It was a good report right through. As you look through the report there is a noticeable absence of inflation on a broad basis. The numbers, if anything, are steady to lower on inflation and show that it just isn't at all a problem for the economy or the Fed.

The report is stronger than appears on the surface. Unlike other parts of the economy, manufacturing activity moved up, so I would say in general this is a pretty solid report. Utility output was down probably because of the relatively cool summer we had.

This is a very weak number and well below what everyone expected. It's not the kind of report the Fed likes to see, but I think they'll recognize that the economy is already rebounding and raise the federal funds target rate to 4.5 percent.