Bottom line, the consumer is extremely healthy and sentiment is good. I believe they will be spending heavily this year, and that December retail sales will beat expectations.
You can call this the good, the bad and the ugly.
The worry with Intel is many investors are expecting higher corporate spending to offset potential weakness in consumer spending for GDP growth this year.
The Consumer Price Index came in 'in line' with expectations, which calmed investors. And the Fed commented that they're not particularly concerned about inflation and that they don't seem to be any more aggressive in raising rates.
This is hugely positive for the market tomorrow -- two bellwether companies reporting big upside surprises in a market where people are heavily short and pessimistic.
I think the market will continue to rally as the economic data continues to improve.
Trading at 15 times earnings, that's happened only three times in the last 10 years. Later in those same years, stocks moved up to 20 times earnings. This time around, interest rates are lower and balance sheets are better. Historically, the stock market has a decent chance to move higher.
IBM's numbers looked very good. Intel's the ugly one because the worry is many investors are expecting higher corporate spending to offset potential weakness in consumer spending.
People are probably taking a wait-and-see approach before the Fed, and the market's taking a breather after last week.
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