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Technology Stocks : Ascend Communications (ASND) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dennis R. Duke who wrote (45552)	4/28/1998 12:52:00 AM
From: Narotham Reddy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 61433

US Fed sources say rate hike may NOT be soon-Post WASHINGTON, April 27 (Reuters) - New data may have eased the concerns that prompted U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers to drop their neutral stance on interest rates last month, the Washington Post reported Tuesday, quoting unnamed Fed sources. The newspaper quoted the sources as saying that the central bank's decision to "lean" toward higher short-term rates at its March 31 meeting didn't necessarily mean that higher rates were on the way soon. The Post also said Fed officials would be happy if the stock market turned flat, blaming rising shareholder wealth for the rise in consumer spending. U.S. stocks took a sharp dive Monday after a report in the Wall Street Journal said the Federal Reserve moved from a neutral stance to a tightening bias at the March meeting of its rate policy committee, concerned that the economy seemed to be overheating. The Federal Reserve declined Monday to comment on the Wall Street Journal's report. Its policy-making body, the Federal Open Market Committee, next meets on May 19. At the March meeting, many of the officials present expressed surprise at how robust the economy appeared to be, the Post said, quoting the Fed sources. The officials worried that if the economy didn't cool off, it could cause inflation to worsen later. But since that meeting, some Fed officials have become less worried about the first quarter's rapid growth because of reports suggesting that such a slowdown has already begun, the Post said. They cited payroll data released last month, which showed a decline in jobs, and flat retail sales figures for March after strong rises in January and February. Some Fed officials told the paper they could be patient and wait for more information about how the economy is progressing and how much of a drag the Asian crisis was turning out to be, especially since inflation had been all but non-existent this year. REUTERS Rtr 23:50 04-27-98