29 Quotes by Ken Mayland

It's not just that the sales level was down but look at the difference between single-family and condos.

It's largely reflecting the time constraints on the part of shoppers. Doing all the test-driving and research at auto dealers means that they are not at malls and department stores and restaurants.

It's going to take more that a one-month decrease in consumer prices to knock the Fed off it rate-rise bandwagon.

Does the Fed stop raising rates after March? No. If these figures stay hot, they are going to keep raising.

Consumer spending in the fourth quarter is going to be low, and capital spending and inventory rebuilding is what takes up the slack. There are also increases in government purchases, a lot of that going for Gulf reconstruction.

Consumers are still willing to spend, even with the high energy prices, and capital investment is booming. By the second half of the year, we'll see the cumulative effect of interest- rate increases begin to bite and the economy slow.

Considering everything, I think the picture is a little bit brighter for the second quarter and some of our fears on the economy in context of this soft patch scare are at least slightly alleviated.

The consumer is still in there slugging away. There is no reason to think the consumer is going to pull back into some shell and go away.

I fully expect the economy to bounce back strongly in the first quarter. Auto sales will be stronger and inventories are still very lean, which points to a better first quarter.