This is a report that suggests that economic growth is slowing very sharply. It's a report that indicates growth will probably only be moderate in the fourth quarter this year and in the first half of next year.

The market is looking for numbers that will add to the information set regarding what the Fed might do at their Oct. 5 meeting. The odds have been greatly reduced by what happened Tuesday and with the wording of June 29-30 (Federal Open Market Committee meeting) minutes, but we need more information to see if that's true.

The bond sell-off . . . can be attributed to the stock markets rise, but the market was negatively reacting to the strong Philadelphia Fed index. It shows more evidence that the manufacturing sector has bottomed out.

We've achieved a good profit outcome despite softness in some of our businesses and weak revenue growth. Our profit reflects the fact that we continue to tune our business models and cost structures.

The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.

But by the same token, I don't think that the arena itself will be enough of a destination so we have to have other things as part of the plan, too.