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To: tsigprofit who wrote (12653)	8/20/2003 9:18:26 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13094

Anyone wonder how the consumer sentiment numbers that were supposed to come out Thursday got lost in the blackout shuffle, while the dow & naz are knocking @ new highs? Too funny... Surprise dip in consumer sentiment Concerns persist about economy The University of Michigan's closely watched gauge of consumer sentiment fell to a preliminary August reading of 90.2 from July's 90.9 final reading. Economists had forecast a preliminary median August reading of 91.0. The survey was to have been disseminated on Aug. 15 but was postponed due to Thursday's historic North American power outage. Reuters August 20, 2003 NEW YORK -- U.S. consumer sentiment fell unexpectedly in August, market sources said Tuesday, as Americans weigh a lukewarm economic recovery that has clear hot spots but has yet to show its staying power. The survey's index on consumers' current view of the economy fell to 100.5 in August from July's 102.1, while the index of consumers' future expectations slipped to 83.6 from a final reading for July of 83.7. The survey is released only to paying subscribers. "Essentially, consumers are still jumpy. The economy is showing small signs of improvement, but we've seen small signs of improvement earlier in the recovery, and they petered out," said Kathryn Kobe, chief economist at Joel Popkin and Co. in Washington, DC. Analysts watch indexes of consumer confidence for clues on consumer spending, which has been a pillar of support for the U.S. economy while businesses have been frugal. Corporate spending on equipment and software showed only slight signs of growth in the second quarter. "The index ticked up a good deal post-war in Iraq when it seemed that this would be a very smooth, wonderful transition away from Iraq," said Steven Wieting, senior economist at Citigroup in New York. Earlier on Tuesday, a massive truck bomb ripped through the UN headquarters in Baghdad, killing 20 people and wounding many others, witnesses said. "I'm not sure the political news here and abroad [over the past two months] has really contributed anything on the positive side to confidence. I think, if anything, it has detracted from it some. At the same time we're seeing some of the strongest retail sales we've seen in a long time," said Wieting.

To: tsigprofit who wrote (12653)	8/20/2003 9:25:21 AM
From: Bucky Katt	Respond to of 13094

And France has a declining GDP, can it happen here?>> LONDON - Hopes for a solid rebound in Europe in the second half of 2003 were shaken on Wednesday after data showed French growth contracted 0.3 percent in the second quarter. France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have all reported declining GDP in the second quarter. Since then, a series of business confidence measures and inventory surveys show expectations for a recovery have taken root. European stock prices - another indicator for growth expectations - have staged impressive rallies since the mid-March lows. The forward-looking indicators are revealing expectations that the European economy bottomed out in the second quarter. Still, the French GDP figure for the second quarter was far worse than expected; economists had projected flat growth at best over the first quarter. The rising euro and global disruptions related to Iraq contributed to the weakness in France, as elsewhere in Europe. Yet strikes in France, too, this summer appeared to have weighed on the economy. The drop in household spending and internal demand raised concerns. Consumer demand has helped the French economy outpace its large nation, eurozone peers. It was the first time that the household consumption component of GDP was negative since 1998. "The strong euro hurt, but the surprise in the French number was on the internal demand," said Markus Heider at Deutsche Bank in London. The strikes and the discussions on pensions reform this summer in France likely weighed on consumer demand. "The last time a government tried to reform the pension system, the strikes were so important that GDP was affected as well," he said. The CAC-40 index (FR:1804546: news, chart, profile) of top French stocks was down 0.5 percent on Wednesday, underperforming other top European indices. See European Markets France's INSEE also revised first quarter GDP lower, to growth of 0.2 percent. In the second quarter, INSEE said hhousehold consumption spending declined by 0.2 percent, and that investment and exports were also on the decline. Exports were down 0.6 percent on the quarter.