Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (500726)	11/29/2003 9:01:25 PM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

Looks like US leaders were warned about post war chaos in Iraq but did not plan for it. A classic case of bureaucratic bungling by the State Department.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (500726)	12/1/2003 10:44:40 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769667

Construction Spending in Oct. Hits High By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 10:21 a.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- Construction spending in October registered its best month on record, an encouraging sign for the economic recovery's staying power. The Commerce Department reported Monday that the total value of building projects under way came in at a seasonally adjusted $922 billion in October, representing a 0.9 percent increase from the previous month. The $922 billion level was an all-time monthly high and the percentage change from the previous month was even better than the 0.6 percent rise that analysts were forecasting. The strength was fairly broad based, with spending by private builders on residential construction and spending by government on big public works projects each posting the highest monthly level on record. Amid signs the economic recovery is on firm footing, the Federal Reserve is expected to hold a key short-term interest rate at a 45-year low of 1 percent at its next meeting on Dec. 9. Economists believe rates could stay at such super-low levels into part of 2004. The economy grew at a blistering 8.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the best performance in nearly two decades. Economic activity is expected to slow to around a 4 percent rate in the current quarter, which would still mark a solid showing. The housing market has been an important pillar supporting the economic recovery and was a main contributor to economic growth in the last quarter. In October, spending by private builders on residential projects grew by 2.2 percent from the previous month to a rate of $484 billion, an all-time monthly high. For private builders, those gains helped to offset cutbacks in spending on other types of construction, including factories and hotels and motels. Low mortgage rates have powered the housing market through economic hard times and now the economic resurgence. Home sales are expected to registered their best year ever for all of 2003. Rates on benchmark 30-year mortgages slid to 5.21 percent, the lowest level in more than four decades, in the middle of June. Since then, rates on these benchmark mortgages have bounced up and down. Rates on 30-year mortgages now stand at 5.89 percent. In the construction report, spending by government on big public works projects increased by 1.2 percent in October from September to a rate of $224.7 billion, also the best month on record. Stronger spending on schools, health-care buildings and transportation facilities helped to blunt weaker spending on highways and streets and public safety facilities.