Intrepid_Timer's PUBLIC Account Talk

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Just as an FYI, I was in Walmart last week and they were having a meeting in the electronics section and I over heard them say that sales were down $30000 from the same time last year. Don't know how this relates, but with retail sales coming out Thursday, it can't be good. Except for the fact that Briefing.com is suggesting a pretty good rise in retail sales.
 
Still hanging out in the G fund waiting. Almost went long yesterday but only one of my two indicators leaned that way. They both have to lean one direction before I make a change.
 
Briefing.com sure gave me a scare this morning. They originally had capacity utilization at 91.4%!! VERY inflationary! They have since corrected it to 81.4%. Anything under 85% is non-inflationary.
 
Bernanke speaks about the economy tomorrow to congress. Gold is also down pretty good today. May be a sign more people have stopped jumping to the safety of gold. Tomorrow will be interesting. Staying the course at 100% S.
 
Dallas Federal Reserve president Richard Fisher, speaking in Philadelphia on the same day that Bernanke was giving his blessing to an economic stimulus package during testimony on Capitol Hill, made some interesting remarks that the market pretty much ignored. Read his full speech.
Fisher, as an alternate member of the Fed's policy-making Open Market Committee last year, did not vote on the 2007 rate cuts. But he will be a committee member this year. So his opinions are worth paying attention to.
He warned that the Fed still has only two mandates, fostering price stability and supporting economic growth. Keeping the markets happy is not a new third mandate.
"Our job is not to bail out imprudent decisionmakers or errant bankers, nor is it to directly support the stock market or to somehow make whole those money managers, financial engineers and real estate speculators who got it wrong. And it most definitely is not to err on the side of Wall Street at the expense of Main Street," he said.
He reminded everyone that rate cuts don't work instantly, which is why the Fed needs to proceed cautiously.
"The act of changing or not changing the fed funds target rate, in and of itself, has no immediate effect on the economy. Like a good single malt whiskey, the ameliorating or stimulating influence kicks in only with a lag."
And most importantly, he stressed how crucial it is for the Fed to not go overboard in response to current doom and gloom headlines.
"We must be mindful that short-term fixes often lead to long-term problems," Fisher said.
One can only hope that other Fed members are listening more closely to Fisher's words of wisdom than the market's panic-stricken calls for another huge rate cut.



http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/28/markets/morningbuzz/index.htm?postversion=2008012815
 
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