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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cheeky Kid who wrote (8703)	9/18/1999 1:05:00 AM
From: Runner	Respond to of 9818

I am sure Mobil's Project Director will come to my house to take care of my family if he's wrong. <gg> Do you think he has food and water at his place? Maybe he knows someone he get get fuel from, no matter what happens. Well, I am as prepared as I will be already, so I will not be part of the problem if we have shortages. If we have a meltdown, who cares about gasoline. Won't be able to drive anywhere anyway. Runner Runner

To: Cheeky Kid who wrote (8703)	9/18/1999 1:35:00 PM
From: Edwarda	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

Cheeky, in case you have not yet read this, I am sharing it with the thread. One of Ed Yardeni's concerns is inventory building in the fourth quarter will inflate reported GDP, followed by destocking in the first and second quarters, which will reduce reported GDP and make a mess of trying to read the relative health of our and other economies in the world. Y2K-Related Moves Could Mean Production Clogs, Greenspan Says By HENRY J. PULIZZI Dow Jones Newswires WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan Friday said that potential inventory-building by companies before the end of the year could lead to clogs in production and "market pressure." "If only a small percentage of businesses choose to add to their inventories as a hedge, the effect on production will be insignificant," Mr. Greenspan said. "However, should a large number of companies want to hold even a few extra days of inventories, the necessary, albeit temporary, increase in production [or imports] to accommodate such stock building cold be quite large. See the full text of Greenspan's speech. "Bottlenecks could develop, and market pressure could build," he said in text prepared for delivery to the President's Council on Year-2000 Conversion. But Mr. Greenspan also characterized as virtually nonexistent the threat that the U.S. will suffer massive computer failures due to Y2K. "The probability of a cascading of computer failures in mission-critical systems is now negligible, given the testing that has been done, the backup plans that are in place and the great adaptability and ingenuity of the American worker," Mr. Greenspan said. Financial Sector Looks Good Mr. Greenspan said he is increasingly confident the U.S. financial sector is prepared for the date change, though he conceded that small glitches may occur. "The good news is that evidence is becoming more persuasive that our electronic infrastructure will be ready for the century date change," he said. "Although the banking system and ATM providers are about as prepared for Y2K as they can be, we cannot realistically expect perfection over the New Year's holiday any more than at similar periods in years past." "Moreover, while systems may fail as they have in the past, these failures never have resulted in broader and persistent -- that is, systemic -- breakdowns in our economy," Mr. Greenspan said. "Notwithstanding, it is at least conceivable that, as a consequence of our current dependence on computers, some Y2K-related failures could have noticeable effects on the economy." Against that backdrop, the Fed chief cautioned against "the potential hazard of an outsized, if only partly informed, disruptive reaction by the public," and urged consumers to make only modest cash withdrawals at the end of the year. Inventory Issues Businesses are deciding how much inventory to keep on their shelves as the uncertainty related to the century date change approaches. Many are expected to boost their stocks as a precaution against the so-called Y2K computer problem, which affects computers with software not equipped to differentiate between 1900 and 2000. Mr. Greenspan said evidence of inventory-building so far is mixed. In the financial sector, however, he said borrowers and lenders are boosting liquidity to avoid relying on credit markets at the end of the year. The Fed has established a special loan facility to relieve pressure on financial institutions, accessible on Oct. 1. The prepared text didn't touch on monetary policy or the outlook for the U.S. economy. --Martin Crutsinger of the Associated Press contributed to this article.