(188 quotes found)
“[At a minimum, this will hit consumers' pocketbooks—and perhaps their confidence. Before Katrina, Goldstein estimated that consumers' annual fuel bills this year would average about $250 more for gasoline and $400 more for home heating oil and natural gas than in 2004. Now he reckons those amounts will go up 30 percent to 75 percent. Costlier energy could adversely affect consumer spending, corporate profits and inflation—or all three.] We could be reaching a tipping point on consumer psychology, especially when people get their home heating bills, ... Those will be big.”
Mark Zandi
“In the next few months, there's no upside. And this winter, we're going to feel it more noticeably as people pay record gas prices and record home-heating bills.”
“Most likely the higher prices will slow growth, ... But there is the growing threat that we get a combination of slower growth and higher inflation.”
“I think they're going to stick to their script, that they're going to continue to tighten at each meeting.”
“Katrina is going to muck things up; it's just a question to what degree.”
“The economy is going to be hit hard by Katrina, and it is going to be hardest on consumers who are already stretched thin. With the surge in gasoline and home heating oil prices, consumers will have a difficult choice to make between filling their gas tank or spending on other things.”
“People are able to pull money out of their homes and put it into their gas tanks. So the overall effects on consumer spending have been small.”
“The Port of New Orleans alone imports 250,000 tons of coffee every year.”
“Consumers will see higher prices on coffee beverages and even chocolate if the raw supplies get backed up at the ports. In agricultural products, prices of cereals and breads could decline. If we can't export the wheat and grain, then the excess supply will have to be consumed domestically, pushing down prices.”
“Greenspan should weigh against asset markets in the good times -- just as he works to support them in the difficult times. He's been one-sided in his policies,”
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