Douglas Altabef

You'll see markets continue to do the Cha-Cha, moving higher, but paced by brief retrenchments. It's not going to be read more

You'll see markets continue to do the Cha-Cha, moving higher, but paced by brief retrenchments. It's not going to be as good as last year, but I think 2004 will still be a good year for the stock markets.

The forecasts for the second-half of the year for the most part seem to support a recovery, but to some read more

The forecasts for the second-half of the year for the most part seem to support a recovery, but to some extent, that's already priced into the market, so you're not seeing that much stock reaction. There's not a lot of conviction and some people will take profits. But I think there will continue to be a moderately upwards bias for the remainder of the year.

Below the current, the economy has been improving far more than the market reality would indicate. And all things considered, read more

Below the current, the economy has been improving far more than the market reality would indicate. And all things considered, the market is really behaving quite well today [Thursday]. But there's still tremendous anxiety; the market is held hostage to individual corporate news and accountability.

On any given day, the market is taking its cue from forecasts and results. Juniper was negative, so that's spilling read more

On any given day, the market is taking its cue from forecasts and results. Juniper was negative, so that's spilling through the Nasdaq. I think, overall, though, the trend through the rest of the year and into early next year will be more positive.

Clearly you're seeing conflicting signs about the economy and the market reacting to that.

Clearly you're seeing conflicting signs about the economy and the market reacting to that.