44 Quotes by Oscar Gonzalez

Jobs are a lagging indicator, and other economic indicators suggest the economy is in fact on the mend. We still expect it will continue to improve through the rest of the year.

I think the Fed will act aggressively. The timing remains to be seen, but both Main Street and Wall Street are pleading for further rate cuts, so I think Greenspan will respond. The sooner and deeper a rate cut, the sooner consumer and business confidence should improve.

Rising benefit costs are cutting into already lean corporate profits. This may cause businesses to further delay additional hiring, which is critical to boosting the sluggish economy.

Record crude prices usually mean record trade gaps. Nobody sees relief on the energy front any time soon.

Today's figures simply reflect an economy still emerging from a recession; there's certainly nothing here to suggest inflation rising from the ashes. In terms of impact, it might as well be ancient history, especially now. The Federal Reserve is back to worrying about where inflation will be in six months, not where it was last month.

The overall trend is still pretty dismal in terms of imbalances between imports and exports.

We are looking at a growth rate somewhere in between 6.5 percent and 7 percent at this point. I think it's really going to be up there.

While improving consumer confidence probably suggests downside protection against a slump in spending, it does not suggest we will see spending take off. We still need a sustained improvement in the jobs market, including a significant decrease in unemployment with a solid increase in real wages.

The good news is that we're moving, albeit slowly, in the right direction and there are signs of further improvement on the horizon,