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To: mph who wrote (47456)	9/12/2003 10:32:18 PM
From: Lost1	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 57110

Bachelor Talk Show Host Letterman to Become Father NEW YORK (Reuters) - Late night talk show host David Letterman (news - Y! TV), who portrays himself on air as a cantankerous loner, says he is about to become a father. The 56-year-old host of the CBS "Late Show" told the studio audience at Thursday's taping of Friday night's show that his girlfriend, Regina Lasko, is pregnant. "I have an announcement to make and I'll be honest with you, I'm a little bit nervous. I have some trepidations about this. I feel a little silly because it's one of those things where I thought never in my life this would happen," Letterman said, according to a transcript issued by the show on Friday. "And here I am, 56, and by all rights it shouldn't be happening. But, there's nothing we can do about it now. And I'm terribly excited about this. I'm scared silly about this. I'm going to be a father." Letterman told his sidekick, bandleader Paul Shaffer (news), that "the wedding is still being discussed. We're still negotiating the wedding." The talk show host quipped that there might be an advantage to siring an offspring at such a late age. "By the time the child has trouble in life, you know, I'll be dead. I'll be long gone," said Letterman, who indicated that Lasko was about six months pregnant. "By the time the kid's out stealing cars, you know, Dad will be dead a few years."

To: mph who wrote (47456)	9/12/2003 11:05:24 PM
From: MulhollandDrive	Respond to of 57110

>>haven't been able to get in sync with the market this week...:-( << welcome to the club, m... :/ Weekly Wrap : It was a bit of a roller coaster week for the market and, for that matter, all Americans as the two-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks tapped a range of emotions. Through it all, though, the market showed some characteristic resolve and ended the week little changed. On Monday, it looked as if the market was poised for another big week as the major indices started on a decidedly upbeat note with the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P closing Monday's session with gains of 83, 30, and 10 points, respectively. Favorable commentary from analysts on various technology stocks acted as the spark for the buying interest. By Tuesday, however, valuation concerns were in play and they would remain so through the end of the week. Selling activity predominated on Tuesday and Wednesday with the technology shares bearing the brunt of the bearish blow. In that two-day span, the Nasdaq dropped approximately 65 points, or 3.4%, while the S&P dropped 2.0% and the Dow fell 1.7%. Aside from the normal valuation concerns, other items that received some blame for the fallout included a violation of some near-term support levels, the airing of what was alleged to be a new videotape of Osama bin Laden, and an awareness that stocks were failing to move higher on what would generally be considered reassuring commentary from analysts and the companies themselves. Specifically, Texas Instruments (TXN) and Xilinx (XLNX) both provided mid-quarter updates Tuesday night in which each company essentially reiterated its prior guidance. To be sure, neither company lowered expectations, and yet, both stocks fell on the news as investors sensed the good news had already been accounted for in their stock prices. On Thursday, the market bounced back, underpinned by a spirit of recovery that accented the memorial services across the land for the victims of the 9/11 tragedy. Technology shares spearheaded the rebound, but that was nothing new as they have maintained a leadership position since last October. For a time on Friday, it looked as if they might surrender that post as a disappointing fiscal Q1 (Aug) report from Oracle (ORCL) created some questions as to whether the sector has gotten ahead of itself. On Friday, the market was also focussed on a batch of disappointing economic data, particularly the August Retail Sales report, which registered a gain of 0.6% versus a consensus expectation for an increase of 1.5%. Excluding autos, retail sales were up 0.7% (consensus +0.8%). The disappointment, frankly, was in the fact that the report came in below expectations, but a 0.6% gain is a very healthy gain for a single month and supports the argument that the economy is in a significant upturn. Eventually, participants took solace in the latter consideration and used it, along with a welcome drop in interest rates, as a springboard for an afternoon rally that enabled the indices to end the week on a positive note. By and large, participation in this week's action was limited as volume figures at the NYSE and Nasdaq failed to impress. That can be attributed to some underlying anxiety as to the near-term sustainability of the recent updraft. Briefing.com, for its part, remains guarded about the market's near-term prospects and would urge readers to either take some profits or pursue ways to protect them. Our long-term outlook for stocks, however, remains moderately bullish.-- Patrick J. O'Hare, Briefing.com