146 Quotes by Ethan Harris

People will wake up and realize the war on terror has just moved one step forward,

The labor market's going to have a long, slow climb. Corporate America is going to use whatever means it can to boost output without hiring. They're going to wait and wait for confirmation that growth is really picking up before they move into serious job hiring.

Only with very weak U.S. growth or a major drop in the U.S. dollar will the trade deficit improve on a sustained basis. The reason you need these dramatic movements is that the U.S. has, according to almost every study, an incredible appetite for imports.

The Fed is saying that 'we're being tested here, we're being tested on our anti-inflation credibility,' ... They need to sound tough. They need a pretty good bark to go with their bite.

The Fed is going to take a cautious approach (because) they're worried about how the consumer will handle higher interest rates, ... We've had recovery nurtured on super-low interest rates. They don't want to shock the patient by withdrawing the medicine too quickly.

If we have an economy that functions O.K., with a little help from the Fed, in that case gridlock is quite good for the market,

The Fed is going to have a bias to be very easy in terms of policy, not just in the next couple of months, but well into the future.

Imagine you're a bank. The corporate sector isn't interested in borrowing, so you can't lend to it. So where do you go? Well, mortgages. They pay a reasonable rate. They're seen as a safe investment. Load up on mortgage-backed securities.

If the Fed isn't happy, the market isn't happy.