270 Quotes by Ian Shepherdson

The bottom line is that a one-month decline in this measure does not reverse the clear, firm upward trend.

This is a low enough number to be interesting, but not so low that it clearly marks a favorable shift in the trend,

The bottom line here is that the month-to-month volatility in the durable orders data is such that the true information content in a single report is very small -- there's just too much noise.

Our view is that home sales will slide through the summer, dragging housing starts down into the fall. But this is still no more than a forecast; mortgage applications are still very strong.

The housing market is clearly on a roll again, despite the -- probably temporary -- dip in confidence.

The bottom line here is that industry is doing well.

Output will not immediately accelerate to the pace suggested by the orders numbers ... because companies are still aggressively running down inventory.

Our measure of core sales, which excludes autos, gas and food, rose a pitiful 0.1 percent, the worst performance since April and impossible to square with Mr. Greenspan's assertion last week that the economy is regaining traction,

The headline was pulled down by slightly bigger declines in gasoline, natural gas and fuel oil prices than we expected. Core PPI is now up just 1.7% year over year, down from May's 2.8% peak. It will slow further in the wake of the slowing in raw-materials prices, but the Fed cares much more about the labor market than PPI.