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Technology Stocks : Intel Strategy for Achieving Wealth and Off Topic -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank Ellis Morris who wrote (24343)	9/2/1999 9:28:00 PM
From: puborectalis	Respond to of 27012

Calm down,Frank...Joe "Batman" Battapaglia isn't worried.....So what to expect tomorrow? It's safe to say that all eyes will be on the Labor Department as it reports its August employment data promptly at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists expect the August unemployment rate to drop to 4.2% from 4.3%. Nonfarm payrolls are forecast to rise by another 215,000 workers, after 310,000 jobs were created in July. Look for average hourly wages to rise by about 0.3% after rising 0.5% last month. Numbers stronger than that and investors are likely to run for the hills screaming. Weaker, and we could have a pre-Labor Day minirally. "Everything is saying that the economy isn?t giving up,? says Larry Wachtel, a market analyst at Prudential Securities. If the employment figures are strong, Wachtel expects the yield on the 30-year Treasury to head toward its 1999 high of 6.25%. But if the numbers are benign, ?it?s a ball game.? That means that every single economic number from now until the Federal Open Market Committee meets again on Oct. 5 will be scrutinized under a microscope. Joseph Battipaglia, chief market strategist at Gruntal & Co. expects the employment numbers to be stronger than expected. ?It?s been a parade of bad news, so why should (the employment data) be any different?? he asks. Just look at this week?s barrage of strong numbers. New housing starts came in higher than forecast, while the National Association of Purchasing Managers? Index, a survey of manufacturing health, rose to 54.2% in August from 53.4% in July. Before the bell today, the Labor Department reported that jobless claims rose only 4,000 to 289,000. The numbers were right in line with forecasts, but any number below 300,000 indicates a tight labor market. And more inflationary news poured in at 10 a.m ET with reports of a wider-than-expected slowdown in second-quarter productivity and a surge in labor costs. The Labor Department said second-quarter nonfarm productivity, which was originally estimated to have risen by 1.3%, was revised downward to 0.6%. That was the smallest productivity gain since last year?s second-quarter rise of 0.4%. Meantime labor costs in the nonfarm sector grew 4.5% in the second quarter, up from the initial estimate of 3.8%, and the fastest gain since the first quarter of 1994, when they also posted a 4.5% increase. To add more fuel to the fire, the Commerce Department reported that July factory orders rose 2.1%, well above the consensus estimate of 1.8% and June?s gain of 0.7%. Regardless of tomorrow?s figures, Battipaglia thinks an October rate hike is already discounted into the market, so he doesn?t expect any significant fall in stocks or bonds. The Dow is already 500 points off its high, he points out. Moreover, Battipaglia doesn?t think the August consumer or producer price indexes (which will be coming out over the next two weeks) will move up in any meaningful way. But he's not so bold as to say relax and start buying. ?It?s time to go to the sideline while the Fed does what it does,? says Battipaglia. In other words, the storm isn't over yet. << BREAKING NEWS ARCHIVE Discuss this story in the SmartMoney Forums. Comments about this story? Please email your thoughts on this and any other subject to letters@smartmoney.com. TOP STORIES Yikes! All Eyes on the Labor Department TOP STORIES Ballmer: Microsoft Will Offer Office on the Web; No Tracking Stock TOP STORIES Ailing Aisles: When Will the Retailers Recover? TOP STORIES More Bad News: Productivity Down; Labor Costs, Factory Orders Up TOP STORIES Penney Joins Sears in Third-Quarter Warning Lament TOP STORIES Frontier Accepts Global Crossing's Offer to Save Deal NETWORKING 3Com Bursts Ahead on Merger Rumors AIRLINES It Could Have Been Worse, and It May Get Better INTERNET IVillage: Slouching Toward Its All-Time Low BUILDING MATERIALS Masco's Buying Spree Wows Wall Street AEROSPACE/DEFENSE Boeing to Take 3rd-Quarter Charge for Dwindling F-15 Jet Demand BROKERS Salomon Will Offer Evening Trading Later This Month CHIPS IBM Will Challenge Intel With Networking Chips CHIPS Is Intel Backing Off Rambus Chips? AUTOS Ford's August Vehicle Sales Rose 8% as Car Sales Jumped 19% FRIDAY On Friday's Calendar NEWS WIRES Search the News Wires BREAKING NEWS More Breaking News