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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tejek who wrote (232431)	5/12/2005 2:18:49 PM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1573902

Consumer confidence is down? Maybe, but that is less reliable than retail sales, which suprised to the upside. All the important economic statistics are up. I grant you that oil is too high, but that is the main reason the stock market is down. If oil was in the $20, this market would have already taken off like a bat out of hell.

To: tejek who wrote (232431)	5/12/2005 3:25:01 PM
From: Jim McMannis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573902

Perhaps the Stock Market is not the publics' speculative mechanism of choice? Like Real Estate?

To: tejek who wrote (232431)	5/12/2005 3:36:47 PM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1573902

Nonsense.....oil is going no where. Oh really? I think you will be shocked to know that increased supply equals lower prices when we're talking about commodity goods. story.news.yahoo.com Oil dives to 3-month low as stocks rise By Richard Valdmanis 6 minutes ago NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices tumbled to a three-month low on Thursday as dealers turned their attention to swelling U.S. crude inventories and signs of slower global demand growth. ADVERTISEMENT click here U.S. crude futures dropped $1.91, or 3.8 percent, to $48.54 a barrel, adding to a $1.62 decline Wednesday triggered by a U.S. government report showing stockpiles at their highest since July 1999.

To: tejek who wrote (232431)	5/12/2005 3:44:54 PM
From: RetiredNow	Respond to of 1573902

Lot's of good news, if you care to listen to it... story.news.yahoo.com Strong retail sales calm soft-spot fears By Alister Bull Thu May 12,12:30 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. retail sales surged to the strongest showing in seven months in April, government data showed on Thursday, as broad-based spending eased worries about a slowing U.S. economy and lifted forecasts for future growth. ADVERTISEMENT click here A larger-than-expected rise in jobless claims presented a slight cloud on the horizon, but financial markets focused on the heavy spending of consumers as the second quarter began. The Commerce Department said retail sales jumped 1.4 percent, double Wall Street's forecasts, on broad-based gains. Another report showed first-time jobless claims rose to 340,000 in the week ending May 7, versus forecasts of 325,000. The April sales number should add weight to contentions by Federal Reserve officials that a recent oil-induced slowdown in growth is likely to prove temporary. Economists say this will encourage the U.S. central bank to keep raising interest rates at a measured pace. Fed Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson spoke on Thursday about the impact of globalization on inflation, but made no reference to the current economic outlook in his prepared remarks. U.S. government bond prices dipped after the retail sales report, while the dollar pushed to a year-high against the euro as investors bet that the economic soft patch had convincingly passed. U.S. growth slowed to an annualized 3.1 percent pace in the first quarter amid soaring energy costs. But economists now think that number may be revised up after stronger trade numbers in March. "We now see second-quarter GDP (gross domestic product) growth running at plus 4.0 percent and we expect first-quarter GDP to be revised up to plus 3.7 percent ... that sure wasn't much of a soft patch," Morgan Stanley economists David Greenlaw and Ted Wieseman wrote in a note to clients. The Commerce Department also lifted retail sales numbers for previous months. It raised March sales to a 0.4 percent increase from a previously reported 0.3 percent gain and revised February's number to an advance of 0.7 percent from 0.5 percent. Excluding autos, which can swing sharply from month to month, the Commerce Department said retail sales climbed 1.1 percent, versus 0.2 percent in March. Wall Street had expected a 0.6 percent rise in April. STRONG Q2 The numbers will likely to be seen as a sign consumer spending, which drives two-thirds of U.S. output, was faring well at the start of the second quarter. "You could well have the first quarter being revised up after yesterday's trade numbers, and it looks like the second quarter is off to a good start in terms of consumer spending," said Rick Egelton, chief economist at the BMO Financial Group. A government report on Wednesday showed the U.S. trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in March to $55 billion, the largest drop in more than three years as exports rose to a record and imports from China declined. After the trade numbers, many on Wall Street raised their first-quarter GDP estimates. News on U.S. growth began to brighten convincingly last week when an April employment report showed a much stronger-than-expected 274,000 jobs created last month. The latest reading for the workplace was not so encouraging, but the underlying trend looked solid. Initial claims for jobless benefits rose for the third straight week in the week ended April 30 from an upwardly revised 336,000 the previous week and to its highest level since April 2, the Labor Department said. Economists had expected claims to fall to 325,000 from the originally reported 333,000 in the week ended April 30. The closely watched four-week moving average, which irons out weekly fluctuations to provide a clearer picture of job-market trends, rose 2,000 to 324,000. "The four-week average in jobless claims remains below the trend through 2004 ... consistent with the trend in payroll gains remaining at least as strong as last year's 183,000 per month average," UBS economists wrote. But not everyone was convinced that the U.S. economy was out of the woods as higher energy prices and borrowing costs pinch household pocket-books. "We continue to believe that rising rates and high gasoline prices will exact a toll on the consumer that will keep top-line GDP growth well below trend in the near-term," wrote Merrill Lynch chief economist David Rosenberg.