No Bob, I don't think the Forest is pretty. As a matter fact I think its starting to look a little scary.
Now, if your invested in investment bankers and Oil stocks you should be OK.
>September 20, 2000
PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- Surging oil prices and the sinking euro are rattling markets, but the International Monetary Fund predicted yesterday that the world economy could demonstrate better growth this year than it has in more than a decade.
Economies also should improve at healthy rates in 2001, led by the powerful U.S. expansion, more growth in Europe and a continued recovery from the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook.
The IMF predicted the global economy will grow by 4.7 percent this year, a 0.5 percentage point increase from the last such prediction in May.
That would match growth last recorded in 1988.
But oil prices hovering at levels unseen since the 1990 Persian Gulf crisis could spoil the rosy picture, IMF officials acknowledged a week before the annual meetings of the IMF and its sister institution, the World Bank.
Michael Mussa, the IMF chief economist, warned of several other potential downsides, including the euro's slide against the U.S. dollar and the Japanese yen as well as the record U.S. trade deficit. |
