When will the market finally hit the bottom? That's the question on investors' minds, and CNBC went straight to the C-suite for answers.
“We have been seeing the declines, which have accelerated of course in the third quarter and now the fourth. We’re typically a lead indicator. I will not call the bottom yet. The sequential declines are slowing, which is a good sign, but I’m going to say that all of ’09 will be much like we’re feeling right now.”
- Andrew Liveris, Dow Chemical Chairman & CEO
“If you look at some of the numbers, it’s hard to make a case that it’s going to get a lot worse…If you look back historically at recessions, we’re told if it’s a national recession in the U.S. it’s probably 10 or 11 months. We’re into it for a year now. This is probably—you can argue—a world recession. They run longer, 16 to 18 months, but maybe a year is behind us. So if we’re within five or six months of a potential bottom, we’re going to come through this stronger than we were.”
- Hunter Harrison, Canadian National Railway President & CEO
“I don’t think we’ve hit the bottom yet. I think this wave will continue, and obviously we’re going to see commercial real estate really start to suffer, and there’s a lot of people that are losing jobs. I do think there is some blinking green light though for the media business.”
- Ted Leonsis, AOL Vice Chairman Emeritus