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Pastimes : All Clowns Must Be Destroyed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pater tenebrarum who wrote (23022)	4/4/2000 8:23:00 PM
From: Lucretius	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42523

i'm looking at them now. and i just got a taunt from the dell fools.. LOL although i originally thought that we might bounce otmorrow, i tned to think tomorrow and thurs will likely be VERY nasty

To: pater tenebrarum who wrote (23022)	4/4/2000 8:30:00 PM
From: Giordano Bruno	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42523

HB, is that what you call a shakeout? -bg- [B] WRAP: Stock slide won't prevent more rate hikes, say analysts Updated Tues 4/4/2000 16:21 EDT By Edward Kean, Mariko de Couto and Deborah Lagomarsino, Bridge News Washington--Apr 4--The slide in U.S. stock prices on Monday and Tuesday makes it less likely that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by an aggressive 0.5 percentage point at its mid-May policy meeting, but is not enough to prevent it from raising interest rates further, economists said Tuesday. The steep losses in the technology-heavy Nasdaq index in the last two days have led to a sharp drop in bond yields on the assumption that the stock market downturn will cause consumer spending to cool. In turn, that has called into question the assumption that the Fed will increase interest rates another 0.25 points on May 16. The Fed has raised rates five times since last June by a total of 1.25 percentage points to slow growth and prevent inflation. However, several private analysts said it is premature to conclude the Fed will not tighten at its next meeting because of the stock market tumble. David Jones, chief economist at Aubrey G. Lanston, said the recent market jitters take away the possibility of an aggressive 50-basis-point rate hike and might limit the number of further Fed rate hikes. But he stressed that the market slide would not "prevent" additional, incremental rate hikes. "In no way do I expect the Fed chairman to rescue the stock market in any way," he said. "I think that as much as the strength of the (economic) data might have underscored the possibility of a 50 basis-point move, the plunge in the Nasdaq and the Dow would certainly eliminate that risk," Kathleen Stephansen, senior economist with Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, said. However, she said the dive in shares does not eliminate the possibility of a tightening because of the need to rein in strong consumer spending. While consumer spending is likely to slow in the second half of 2000, it is still too early to tell whether the "wealth effect" on consumer spending from the stock market will be dampened from the current stock market rout, Stephansen said. Unlike the legendary 1987 stock-market crash that prompted the Fed to inject liquidity in the financial system, Jones said "there isn't any systemic risk" in the current episode. Before concluding that the recent market slide will prevent the Fed from tightening further, "you need to see how the stock market correction shows up in weaker demand growth," Jones said. He noted that so far this year growth has been stronger than most economists and the Fed expected. Economist Leonard Santow, of Griggs and Santow, maintained that a 25-basis- point rate hike at the Fed's May meeting was "still the best guess." He said that a 50-basis point rate hike probably was not the most likely outcome even before the recent market turmoil. He suggested the Fed probably is not upset with the recent stock market developments. "I don't think they're totally unhappy with what has happened in the last couple of days," he said. The "irrational exuberance" was in the technology-oriented stocks and that is now correcting, he said. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan "won't be disturbed by what happened in the Nasdaq as long it doesn't free-fall," Santow said. End