Ascertain a trend rather than a reaction ? try not to read too much into economic numbers,

They (investors) tend to overreact to individual economic reports which may be more statistical noise than an underlying trend which takes three to four months to develop, ... They tend to pay equal attention to almost any report that is relevant, and some are more significant than others.

These are serious numbers. The question is whether this is a trend or a reaction to Katrina and Rita.

We had expected a snap-back in consumer spending after a decline in May, and that's what these numbers showed. Consumers appeared to be optimistic in their spending, despite the stock market and the ongoing corporate frauds and malfeasance.

They are definitely off auto pilot. Although another increase at the end of March seems likely, the statement in the minutes reinforces the view that future policy steps will depend more on the behavior of economic statistics.

Wall Street breathed a collective sigh of relief this week as fears of mounting inflationary pressures and additional rate hikes by the Federal Reserve suddenly evaporated.