Presentation is loading. Please wait.

Presentation is loading. Please wait.

Conference Call 3/26/07. The Economy – Fed Open Market Committee held interest rate on fed funds steady at 5.25% Removed bias toward tightening monetary.

Similar presentations


Presentation on theme: "Conference Call 3/26/07. The Economy – Fed Open Market Committee held interest rate on fed funds steady at 5.25% Removed bias toward tightening monetary."— Presentation transcript:

1 Conference Call 3/26/07

2 The Economy – Fed Open Market Committee held interest rate on fed funds steady at 5.25% Removed bias toward tightening monetary policy when removing “additional firming” and added “future policy adjustments would depend on the evolution of the outlook for both inflation and economic growth” in policy statement Growth is “mixed” - room to change rates

3 The Economy - Housing Sales of existing homes rose 3.9% in Feb (risen in the last 3 months) – Single family home sales rose 3.7% (highest since April 06) Housing starts rose 9% New building permits fell 2.5% Inventories of unsold home rose 5.9% - increased foreclosures on sub-prime mortgages will add to this in coming months

4 The Economy – Conference Board Index of leading indicators fell 0.5% in Feb and fell a revised 0.3% in Jan Seems housing and manufacturing sectors are weak Consumer sector remains fairly strong currently

5 The Markets All broad stock indexes up this week S & P 500 – rose 3.54% (biggest weekly gain since March 2003) Leading Sectors: Oil and Gas, Utilities, and Telecommunications

6 The Markets Stock investors believe: Fed more likely to cut interest rates than raise them QInsight believes: sub-prime mortgage credit problems will continue to dampen the housing and construction sectors (possibly even consumer spending) – And Fed will have to eventually lower short-term interest rates to counter these deflationary forces

7 The Markets – QInsight believes: FedEx’s profit growth warning this week – precursor of possibly slower corporate earnings growth in Q1 07 US economy grow at slower pace in 07 with GDP growth at 2.2 to 2.7% Operating earnings for S&P companies may grow in the 4-9% range until Q4 07 US stock indexes vulnerable to price shocks from bad economic, earnings, or geopolitical news

8 The Markets – QInsight believes Business cycle : Plunge Leading Sectors in Plunge: – Financial, Financial Services, Basic Materials, Consumer Discretionary, and Consumer Staples


Download ppt "Conference Call 3/26/07. The Economy – Fed Open Market Committee held interest rate on fed funds steady at 5.25% Removed bias toward tightening monetary."

Similar presentations


Ads by Google