It's been a little difficult to get any read as to what their thinking may be.
The prospect of slightly higher inflation might be making stock investors a bit nervous. I think stocks are also likely reacting to the higher oil prices today.
The advance we've seen over the last month has been a reaction to fundamentals. Those fundamentals remain, and as long as we get a fairly solid holiday season, I think we'll continue to see stocks move up.
The market has had a good run, so it wouldn't be surprising to see it take a little break next week.
Earnings will be good, and probably better than some expected. That will be refreshing to investors.
The report was a pretty significant upside surprise, both in the overall read and prices paid component. That certainly confirms that the Fed is likely to raise rates by another quarter-percentage point in November, for anyone who was not sure about that.
The market is taking a heavy reaction at the moment, but the message is actually positive for stocks. The Fed is saying generally that we continue to have reasonable economic activity, despite the storm, and that underlying inflation can be contained.
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