27 Quotes by Charles Lieberman

No doubt housing activity was elevated over the winter because of very, very mild weather. One housing start in Syracuse, N.Y., in December is an awful lot. So we shouldn't be surprised by a big fall-off.

Fundamentally, the economy has not slowed as investors had hoped or the Fed requires. It puts a tightening in August back on the table.

Had this number been very high, the markets would have been quite confident the Fed would raise rates. The real question is whether they are going to pull the trigger on interest rates again, and my answer is no.

I suspect that interest rates must increase considerably more than is currently expected or has been built into forward markets.

I think we have a recovery under way, ... At this stage of the recovery, the data are often mixed.

I think there's been a slowdown in economic activity, but I don't think it's been an adequate slowdown and I suspect it might be temporary. There isn't a lot of evidence yet to indicate that the economy is slowing notably.

Overwhelmingly, I think the stock market is taking the view that the economy is doing well despite the rise in interest rates, and they clearly don't think that however much interest rates go up, that it is going to impair growth, or impair profitability.

I think part of what has driven the market today are fluctuations in oil and interest rates and the bond market.

That's the time when a big number is most likely, mainly when we're coming out of a recession. At this stage of the business cycle, to be getting a 5 percent growth rate in productivity for a year is really very impressive.