David Blitzer
David Blitzer
august clearly gm plus quarter rebound second soft until weakness work
The second quarter was clearly a soft quarter, there was a lot of weakness in manufacturing. I think we'll see a rebound but it won't show up until the August numbers. Getting GM back to work will be a big plus in getting things going again.
accounting companies company consistent earnings figure number rules tells together
Increasingly, companies would pretty much write their own accounting rules when they put together their earnings releases. We said to ourselves, let's figure out how to do this the right way so the earnings number really tells us something about what's going on and the number is consistent from company to company.
impact numbers seen suggest
These numbers suggest there is no impact to be seen from all the difficulties in Asia.
addition candidate case chuck clearly company criteria extreme plug pull time
Clearly, in the extreme case there comes a time when we pull the plug and chuck a company out but we want to keep turnover really low, ... But if a company clearly and substantially violates the addition criteria it's a candidate for removal.
invest later majority managers missed months people run silly stock stocks talking trading vast
Clearly, if we take a stock out at $2, and 6 months later it's trading at $10, we look silly and people who invest in the index will say, 'I missed a five-times gain'. But in talking to people who run index funds, the vast majority of managers say take the low-priced stocks out,
consumers demand extremely imports increase large oil played points prices role strong
Imports are extremely strong because there's a lot of demand from consumers for goods. The increase in oil prices played a large role in that but, it still points to an extremely strong economy.
bet next repeated
The bet is that this will not be repeated next month.
beginning far horrendous
As horrendous as it looks, I'm beginning to feel we're not that far from a bottom.
alan
As long as Alan Greenspan's not frowning, I'm not too worried.
company competition fact folks home less markets protective provides role surviving truth
There is truth to the fact that competition and markets are more global, especially in the U.S., where being protective of the home company is a little less fashionable than it was 10 or 15 years ago. Merging provides a role for these folks and makes them a surviving entity.
aware caused change earnings estimated fully investors
A change of 7% or 8% in estimated earnings for the S&P 500 is significant, especially if investors are not fully aware of what caused the change.
best change companies definition lack looks quarter reasonable
It's just a lack of consistency. Companies change the definition quarter to quarter, whichever looks best - that's not a reasonable way to do business.
company market member represents sign stock
It's a sign that this is a company that represents the economy, represents the stock market and should be a member of the S&P 500.
continues focus investing investment
This investment continues our focus of investing in high-quality, stable, cash-generative businesses.