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To: Techplayer who wrote (30079)	3/2/2003 9:12:06 PM
From: Techplayer	Respond to of 57110

Going nowhere Economic data turn sour in February By Rex Nutting, CBS.MarketWatch.com Last Update: 7:03 PM ET Feb. 28, 2003 Whether it's war worries, higher energy prices or just the usual ups and downs of the economy, February's economic data probably won't look so great. "We expect a slowdown across the board in the major economic statistics," said Ethan Harris, chief economist at Lehman Brothers. In January remember, payrolls expanded by 143,000 while the jobless rate fell to 5.7 percent. Industrial output rose 0.7 percent. Non-auto sales rose 1.3 percent. Homeowners sold a record number of residences. And businesses boosted their orders for capital goods. Early indications for February aren't favorable. Retail sales were soft. Jobless claims rose. Consumer confidence fell further. And the regional manufacturing surveys were disappointing. So it won't be a surprise if the first so-called hard numbers on February are equally soft. This coming week's economic calendar features three big releases for February: The Institute for Supply Management index on Monday, the Beige Book on Wednesday and the nonfarm payrolls report on Friday. All three reports are likely to show a growing, but struggling economy, economists say. jnj, abt and amgn may be weak on rheumatoid arthritis drug questions