Thread,
You know.....with all this NOISE....'hopping' around about 'deflation', y2k,
Brazil, wars, bandit wives, squeezed lending markets, debt restructuring.....
What could possibly cause anyone to buy into these markets.
Besides panic greed.
So I had to look around....sure enough what did I find but some strong,
positive, if not elegantly presented.....regular vanilla type nuts and bolts
information....good stuff.
WSJ an article Friday 13th Nov. - Page A2
NABE - Nat Assoc. of Business Economists quarterly survey - it says:
>US Economy heading into 1999 “slowing, but still growing”
>The 29 member panel expects the GDP to grow by 3.6% in 1998
and 2.1% in 1999 compared with 3.9% in 1997
>Inflation will fall to 1.6% for 1998 and will rise to 2.2% next year.
The trend of low inflation will likely continue through the end of the
century, despite wage pressures and tight labor markets.
>80% of panel were looking for a soft landing
>Most economists panelists anticipate the slowdown to begin next quarter.
>General feelling of the panel is the economic impact of the Aug/Sept stock
declines is less likely to be as significant as initially thought. That the
growth sustained over the last 7 years was in fact unsustainable.
>Most expect Fed to lower federal funds rate [now 5%], between ½ and 1% point,
assuming atleast 2 more ¼ pts to come.
>Squeeze on corp. profits may help curb stock prices going into next year
>Rising unemployment claims reflects a slowdown and fits with other data
that reflects the turmoil in international markets effecting exports.
>One panelist, Mr. Prakken said, ”We have a profits recession that is occurring in
the face of an economy still growing." But he added, that it would take a “major
international debacle” to trigger a market meltdown.
Not to Bad
Have a good weekend
Chip
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