It was a week dominated by a raft of economic reports, Facebook’s IPO, the ongoing drama of Greece, the build-up to the Super Bowl, and all topped off by the market-driving, possibly politically game-changing Non-Farm Payroll Report. With everyone busy gearing up for the Big Game, we’ll keep this week’s look at notable quotes relatively brief.
“There was a very clear message that was conveyed from all participants of the teleconference ... to the Greeks that enough is enough There is a great sense of frustration that they are dragging their feet.” --Reuters, quoting a Euro zone official as Greece was told Saturday it could not go ahead with an agreed deal to restructure privately-held debt until it guaranteed it would implement reforms needed to secure a second financing package.
“This Sunday will be a really important day in my husband’s life… So I kindly ask all of you to join me on this positive chain and pray for him.” --Tom Brady’s wife Gisele Bundchen in an e-mail to friends and family. The media has had a field day pointing out that the uber-handsome, wealthy, MVP- and Super Bowl-winning star quarterback with the super-model wife and young son might not need too much more divine intervention. (However, others point out that since Tom has not won a Super Bowl since becoming serious with Gisele, she is feeling the heat to make sure that changes this year).
“The dueling realities of a weak economy which shows some signs of improvement poses serious risks to the upcoming strategies in the camps of both Pres. Obama and Gov. Romney.” --the New York Times Saturday, talking of the implications of Friday’s jobs report. Obama has caught a lot of criticism for premature declarations of real improvement in the employment situation, while Romney may have to temper attacks on Obama’s handling of the economy. Interestingly, both the blogging universe and some more traditional media outlets were all over the surprisingly strong numbers looking for some conspiracy theory on whether or not they were somehow manipulated by the administration, which most sources say is just not possible. (The skepticism being prompted by the 243,000 number being magnitudes above consensus estimates of 140,000).
“The Dithering Disappointment of Davos” --thematic by Tom Keene of Bloomberg Surveillance reporting from Davos on the lack of any substantive new ideas for the European debt crisis emerging from the conference , making it “five years of dithering.”
‘I am not concerned about the very poor.” --Mitt Romney on the campaign trail, in a remark taken somewhat out of context yet creating a firestorm and ammunition for Republican and Democratic rivals alike. Others in the media took great delight in pointing out that the endorsement from Donald Trump might not have been most welcome this week, playing up Trump’s catchphrase, “You’re Fired!”
“January is a fairly good predictor of the year for U.S. stocks. Only seven times since 1950 has January turned out to be a "major error" in predicting the year to come” --USA Today citing the Stock Trader's Almanac. They do point out that of those seven times several have been “doozies”. Obviously, the “As January goes…” theory is in full force, with the QQQ’s at 10-year highs and the Dow right at pre-crash levels from 2008.
“We’re in a positive feedback loop,” a senior investment strategist at BNY Mellon Wealth Management, which oversees about $168 billion. “The employment picture is improving, we’re seeing earnings growth continue to be favorable, valuations are attractive, and the economy seems to be improving.”
“We still have a long way to go before the labor market can be said to be operating normally.” Ben Bernanke in testimony to the House Budget Committee. The “nonpartisan” Congressional Budget Office had just issued a pessimistic forecast on Jan. 31; projecting unemployment may rise to 8.9 percent in the last three months of this year and increase to 9.2 percent in the last quarter of 2013. The New York Times had a major feature over the weekend talking about the GDP, pointing out that the long-term U.S. growth rate is at its lowest since the Great Depression, with a compound annual rate of 1.7% over the past 10 years.
“Indianapolis has gone all out in making the Super Bowl one of the most inclusive and fan-friendly of all time.” –several media sources, talking about the hospitality being shown and raving about “the free, family-friendly Super Bowl Village which has transformed the heart of downtown into a ten-day, three-block interactive festival of football.” Apparently some hotel and motel owners did not get the message, with $47 per night budget rooms going as high as $1800 for Super Bowl weekend.>
“I am sure of all the things I have ever done in my life; this will be the thing he is most excited about.” --Madonna, speaking of her father and her Super Bowl half-time performance today. (If you read this in time, you might still be able to get a prop bet down on what Madonna will be wearing, the color of her hair, and whether or not she will use a hand-held mike or headset.)
“Facebook’s IPO is set to unleash a wave of wealth across Silicon Valley but for all its success, the question remains just how Facebook will manage its growth into a mature, global business, keeping both advertisers and subscribers happy while balancing demands of privacy and profits.” --Bloomberg BusinessWeek, commenting on the growth and monetizing challenges facing FB even amidst the euphoria of the IPO announcement. The jury is going to be out for a while on whether one wants to buy FB on Day One “with both hands” or “avoid at all costs”, with vocal advocates of each strategy.
“Facebook is the story of a wanna-be Elite (Zuckerberg), who started an Elitist Social Network (Harvard students only), who went to the Elites of Finance for funding (venture caps and firms like GS), and then proclaimed it was the new paradigm of Non-Elitism (hundreds of millions of users sharing worldwide), and assisted in electing a new Washington Power Elite (the Obama Administration), while helping bring down the Mid-East Elite (the Spring uprisings), and now enriching the Wall Street Elite, while selling data and advertising to the Corporate Elite.” –blogger on Facebook’s history
We will end it there today as we have to start getting the house, food and beverage ready for a small Big Game gathering this evening. We’ll close with one of our favorite images out of Davos:
“Top celebrity at this year’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos was Sir Mick Jagger, front-man of the Rolling Stones (and longtime reader of The Economist). At his various appearances in the Swiss Alpine resort, he asked questions, joked, briefly shook his legendary hips, but refused to sing.” --The Economist. (Based on this report we don’t think there is any truth to the rumors that Sir Mick did put in late night
