<<<If the current trends continue, many economists think the Federal Reserve may switch courses and lower interest rates sometime in the next four months to prevent growth from deteriorating further.
At its most recent meeting, on Nov. 15, the Fed's rate-setting committee said it continued to view inflation as a greater threat than a sharp slowdown. On Friday, Edward Gramlich, a Fed governor, said the economy had appeared less robust in the last two weeks. At the Nov. 15 meeting, the Fed "had noticed the slowdown in spending and the tightened credit conditions, and there have been data that came out since then that make it perhaps even more noticeable," Mr. Gramlich said, according to Reuters.
Barring some kind of shock to the economy, analysts say 2001 is likely to look much like the final months of 2000: weak in comparison with recent years, but not too bad when measured against the late years of other booms.
nytimes.com
>>> |
