While the National Retail Federation was quick to praise the $150 billion U.S. economic stimulus package agreed to by the White House and Congress, analysts said it was nothing more than a desperate move by lawmakers in an election year.
“This is a band-aid on nothing. This is a temporary stimulus — in an election year and for Bush’s reputation — that doesn’t address any of the systemic problems,” said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of New York-based retail consulting firm Davidowitz & Associates Inc.
Mark Coffelt, the chief investment officer of Empiric Funds, said he was disappointed in Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s response.
“Instead of endorsing all the politicians’ lust to send checks out to all the voters, it would have been better to say at the Federal Reserve ‘we don’t see a recession,” said Coffelt, who holds short positions on retail stocks.
“Basically what he said was, ‘we don’t have things under control.’ That’s not what the markets wanted to hear.”
(Photo: Reuters)
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