To: Enigma who wrote (39113 ) 8/16/1999 3:51:00 PM From: Alex Respond to of 116834
Hi E. I agree. It depends on how you want to read that release. Come Sept 21st we might not only hear of who sold how much gold at what price; but also who bought it. That could lend a little more credence to the transparency claims............ Price of energy will fuel inflation <Picture> by from LAUREN CHAMBLISS in Washington Wall Street investors will be glued to their screens tomorrow awaiting news of America's key inflation rate, the consumer price index, which is expected to post its largest gain in three months. Economists expect the July CPI to be up 0.3%, triple June's rate, because of rising energy prices. Some said there might be a surprise following Friday's benign producer price report. Strip out energy and June's core rate of inflation should be quite tame, up 0.1% or 0.2%. Surging energy prices could push the CPI higher in coming months, perhaps back to an annual 4% rate, said economist Donald Ratajczak. However, he says this is not as worrying as it might appear. US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has indicated he does not view rising energy prices as a big worry. If the core rate creeps up, there would be more concern. Earnings news from two hi-tech heavyweights could shake up the technology sector. Today, Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina will report how the personal computers maker did in the latest quarter amid evidence of slowing PC sales. Tomorrow, Dell Computer is expected to post positive earnings of 17 cents a share, up 42%. Also tomorrow, the government will report industrial production and capacity utilisation. America's industrial companies have been im-proving for several months and production is expected to be up 1% for July with capacity rising to 80.7%, a level that still contains plenty or room for growth. The weak spot in the US economy will be highlighted on Thursday when the trade deficit is expected to show a $20.3 billion (œ12.6 billion) shortfall, slightly less than the previous month's $21.3 billion. Data supplied by Thomson Global markets.thisislondon.co.uk