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Pastimes : The Naked Truth - Big Kahuna a Myth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joseph G. who wrote (10852)	11/11/1998 2:25:00 PM
From: MythMan	Respond to of 86076

I should probably check to see who handles the beemer debt issues. Something tells me it is the same firms who are doing the upgrades. There ought to be a law against that -ng-

To: Joseph G. who wrote (10852)	11/11/1998 2:28:00 PM
From: MythMan	Respond to of 86076

Prelude to devaluation, or better yet, default? >>Wednesday November 11, 2:10 pm Eastern Time Brazil shares shed 2.9 pct on political concerns SAO PAULO, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Brazilian shares turned south in late trade Wednesday on concern President Fernando Henrique Cardoso could be losing some of the support needed to pass tough austerity measures in Congress, traders said. Sao Paulo's key Bovespa index slumped 2.9 percent to 7,785 points after gaining more than 2 percent in early trade. Investors embarked on a wave of profit-taking ''due to the president's supposed loss of political power,'' a trader at a local brokerage said. A Congressional commission responsible for drawing up the final draft of social security reforms had to cancel Wednesday's scheduled meeting because not enough members showed up, sparking concern over a possible loss of support. Markets hailed initial approval of the reforms earlier this month as a sign of widespread backing for Cardoso and his fiscal plan. One member of the commission said implementation of pension reforms could now take another three weeks. At the same time an influential politician said he will urge members of his party to oppose an increase in the financial transactions tax, another important component of Cardoso's fiscal tightening plan. Still, an expected reduction in Brazil's benchmark interest rates and the expected announcement of an international line of credit could boost Brazilian equities before the end of the week, traders said. can't end an article on a negative, can we?

To: Joseph G. who wrote (10852)	11/11/1998 2:31:00 PM
From: MythMan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86076

No rate cut? Lying thru their teeth? >>Wednesday November 11, 2:07 pm Eastern Time FEDWATCH--Fed sees no U.S. recession, calmer mkts By Isabelle Clary NEW YORK, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve officials, heading into their November 17 policy meeting, have put at close to nil the odds for the U.S. economy heading into a recession in the near term while expressing relief over U.S. capital markets returning to more normal conditions. In recent interviews with Reuters, they reflected a lesser degree of concern about the economic and financial market outlook following the two interest rate cuts the Fed implemented on September 29 and October 15. -- NEW YORK FED DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH CECCHETTI ''Markets have calmed down quite a bit. Volatility has declined... Clearly, we see debt issuance come back,'' New York Fed Director of Research Stephen Cecchetti told Reuters on Tuesday. Cecchetti noted that spreads in fixed-income markets have narrowed from their recently very high levels, although they still are wide by historic standards. As an example of calm returning to the markets, a Sprint Corp. unit successfully floated on Tuesday $5 billion worth of debt in the second-largest corporate issuance ever. ''There is no evidence of a credit crunch. There is evidence of tightening credit standards, but most people thought credit standards were too lax to begin with,'' Cecchetti said. ''We are entering a period where the risks to the economy are less than they were six to eight weeks ago...There are a few forecasters who are forecasting a recession as early as the next quarter of next year, but that's difficult to justify at this point.'' -- VICE CHAIR ALICE RIVLIN Rivlin was cautious about the economic outlook in a November 9 interview where she pointed out ''The extreme pulling back (from capital market financing), the extreme risk aversion seem to have calmed down a bit, but only a bit.'' Rivlin forecast slower growth but saw no warning flag of a recession, meaning at least two consecutive quarters of negative growth. ''We don't see a significant slowdown in the U.S. economy as a whole -- yet,'' said Rivlin, while warning of signs ''the economy is slowing which is likely to be reflected in the fourth quarter and the first half of next year.'' ''I don't think we're going into recession, but the plausible forecasts are lower-than-trend growth,'' she added. -- RICHMOND FED DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH MARVIN GOODFRIEND Goodfriend expressed relief last week about the recent improvement in U.S. capital markets ''There is evidence that what I'm calling a capital markets crisis has been subsiding for a few weeks now,'' Goodfriend told Reuters. ''Things in August looked relatively bleak. In fact, from the perspective of today, it's hard to believe what a difference we see in November compared to August.'' Goodfriend forecast U.S. Gross Domestic Product growth would slow from its ''very rapid'' pace earlier this year to around ''trend growth'' or 2.0-to-2.5 percent in 1999. The recent Fed officials' comments reinforced the views expressed by Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan on November 5 when he told market participants ''it is plausible that the current episode of investor fright will dissipate, and yield spreads and liquidity premiums will soon fall into more normal ranges.'' ''Indeed, we are already seeing significant signs of some reversal,'' added Greenspan who did not comment on the economy on that occasion.<<