3/17/10

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day…
Paddy was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. Looking up to heaven he said, “Lord take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to Mass every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish whiskey!”Miraculously, a parking place appeared.Paddy looked up again and said, “Never mind, I found one.”

The FOMC’s statement yesterday didn’t surprise anyone as they will maintain the current Fed rate for an “extended period.” Since markets don’t like surprises, and there were none, rates stayed about the same though there was improvement in the stock market.
For this morning’s market, ahead of the Producer Price Index, rates were down and stock market futures were pointing to yet another improvement. The February PPI was -.6%, mostly due to energy costs; ex-food and energy the core rate was +.1% (as expected). The year-over-year numbers were also satisfactory, and overall it does appear that inflation is not a big deal. After the numbers we find mortgage prices a shade worse.
Nothing left today but Bernanke's testimony this afternoon and watching the equity markets.