125 Quotes by Sung Sohn

Dollar depreciation is good assuming it is taking place in an orderly manner. The concern is any precipitous plunge. If that were to happen the Fed would have to raise rates significantly.

Consumers are not on a spending spree, but they continue to spend,

Consumer demand has been tapped out, so we won't see a major thrust there, ... We're really counting on this replacement demand, especially in the high-tech area.

Construction spending is always a lagging economic indicator, especially in commercial construction, because of the time it takes to plan, execute and build. I expect housing to be a stabilizer, but commercial construction to be a drag on economic growth for a while to come.

Even with significant employment gains, the central bank wants to see more inflation and pricing power. The fall election is another hurdle. No hike in the interest rate is likely in 2004.

That's one of the reasons why consumers are not going on a spending spree, though they're keeping the economic ship afloat. When higher unemployment numbers come out, that will probably rattle consumer confidence a bit.

The bedrock of consumer spending and confidence is employment. The expectations of more jobs has boosted consumer confidence.

Once the Fed starts raising rates, I suspect they might go up more rapidly than a lot of people realize. Many of us think the Fed will do things slowly and gradually. In fact, they usually do things pretty quickly.

Once the employment picture stabilizes, around midyear, we should see a more rapid and sustained recovery in consumer confidence.