Are data points pointing the way out?
TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Steve Chiotakis: Well, let’s bring in Henry Blodgett, the editor of Clusterstock.com. Henry, all this information, a good thing?
Henry Blodgett: I don’t think of that necessarily will stabilize the financial markets. I think there has been a lot of frustration with the secrecy of the banks’ stress tests, and I think releasing the information will help a little bit. The big problem with the stress tests is that most people think that they’re not stressful enough. So the suspicion already is that the reason the government is going to release the results is because all the banks will pass with flying colors and there will be this great illusion that our banks are healthy and we can all stop worrying. And I think that is likely to come under fire as well, but more disclosure is better than less.
Chiotakis: More information obviously, more confidence, what the administration is looking for, but we’re also getting information, we’ve got, you know, the consumer price index and industrial output and things like that. And then Intel is talking about how it’s difficult in projecting its second quarter because of volatility in the markets. So, I mean, is this too much information?
Blodgett: Hah. Well, we’ve had a string of data over the last five weeks or so that has been better than expected. That’s why the stock market has been so strong. And what we’ve seen in the last couple of days now are some pretty harsh reminders that in fact we still are in this recession, but not . . . off to the races again. And usually when you come through recession, even if you’re actually starting to come out of them, which is possible here, you often have many reverses in the data. So no, I would . . . more information is still good, but anyone who thinks that because we had a couple of data points that were better than expected it’s off to the races again is probably deluding themselves.
Chiotakis: All right, Henry Blodgett, editor of Clusterstock.com. Henry, thank you.
Blodgett: Thank you.
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