TEXT OF INTERVIEW

Steve Chiotakis: Joining us live on the line now is Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist at S&P Equity Research in New York. Sam, some good earnings, some bad — what’s going on here?

Sam Stovall: Good morning, Steve. Well, I think what we’re finding is that instead of everybody being down as we saw in the last couple of quarters, now we’re starting to see a little bit of mixture here and there of companies that have been surprising to the upside. Certainly better-than-expected results — AT&T, Wells Fargo, McDonalds — but still an awful lot of disappointments, such as with Boeing and Morgan Stanley. And since the banks got us into this mess, that’s why I think investors are a bit concerned today, because they’re wondering if Morgan Stanley and the other banks might not be able to repeat good results in the future quarters.

Chiotakis: You know Sam, I want to talk a little bit about the broader picture. I alluded to at the top that this market isn’t for the faint of heart. What can we expect do you think for the rest of the year?

Stovall: Well I think for the rest of the year, we’re likely to see a bit of a digestion, or attempt at digestion of the gains that we experienced from March 9 through April 17. The S&P gained close to 30 percent in that time frame, and I would not be surprised if we gave back anywhere from 7 percent to 14 percent. That would be consistent with history. But I think that by the end of the year, we’ll probably close around 850, that’s what our investment policy committee is forecasting. So certainly better than where we were at March 9 of this year.

Chiotakis: All right, let’s take a look at the numbers again — the Dow down about six-tenths of a percent, 53 points at this hour. Sam Stovall, Chief Investment Strategist at S&P Equity Research, joining us on the line from New York. Thanks, Sam.

Stovall: You’re welcome.