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To: teevee who wrote (24814)	12/22/1998 6:21:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116756

well that what happened to chips..since than AMAT-22-47, LRCX 8-22 (high) and so on...Blood is running...opportunity or trap? you decide

To: teevee who wrote (24814)	12/24/1998 5:57:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 116756

Personal Income Surges in November Thursday, 24 December 1998 W A S H I N G T O N (AP) AMERICANS' PERSONAL income registered the largest increase in nine months and unemployment applications hit a 17-month low, suggesting the U.S. economy will enter 1999 with enough power to resist the drag from economic slumps abroad. Income increased by a seasonally adjusted 0.5 percent in November, the most since February, the Commerce Department said Thursday. This follows respectable gains in September and October. Separately, the Labor Department said the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell by 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 287,000 last week, the lowest since July 1997. "The economy is ending 1998 on a bright note for the consumer, with incomes rising comfortably and unemployment low," said economist Bob Dederick of Northern Trust Co. in Chicago. "The momentum suggests the economy may well begin 1999 with a solid growth rate." At the start of the holiday shopping season, personal spending crept up just 0.1 percent in November. But that came on top of a robust 0.7 percent increase in October. November spending was held down by two special factors: a drop in electricity consumption, reflecting unseasonably mild temperatures; and a decline in auto purchases to more normal levels following a surge during the two previous months as buyers made up for time lost during the summer's strikes at General Motors. "Consumption is by no means falling off the map," said economist William Cheney of John Hancock Financial Services in Boston. "Consumers are going to go on spending so long as they're earning the income and, for the moment, the income seems to be rolling in." Their spending - accounting for roughly two-thirds of economic output - is powering the U.S. economy at a brisk growth rate, even as it struggles to cope with diminished export sales to slumping economies in Asia, Russia and Latin America. The combination of a large personal income increase and a small spending gain meant Americans' personal savings rate - savings as a percentage of after-tax income - was 0.1 percent last month. In October, the savings rate was minus 0.2 percent - the first negative number since the department began calculating a monthly rate in 1959. In September, it was zero. The savings figures aren't as bleak as they appear. They indicate Americans are spending some of the wealth they've accumulated in the stock market and cashing in part of their home equity as they refinance to take advantage of low mortgage rates. They can't continue raiding their wealth indefinitely, especially if stock-market gains are more modest next year. But, for now, the market remains near its highs for the year. On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average extended its rally to six consecutive sessions, rising 16 points to 9,218. Responding to the economy's resilience, the Federal Reserve this week declined to change short-term interest rates. It had cut rates three times this fall to help insulate the U.S. economy and Wall Street from foreign turmoil. The most important component of income - wages and salaries - rose 0.6 percent in November. Wages and salaries in manufacturing were flat, reflecting U.S. trade problems. But they rose 0.9 percent in services, which are less affected by international competition. Farm owners' income surged, helped by an increase in federal subsidy payments intended to help farmers cope with declining commodity prices. Business owners' income also rose, as did transfer payments such as Social Security, rental income and dividends. Interest income fell. Spending on big-ticket durable goods decreased 0.9 percent in November after increasing more than 2 percent in both October and September. Spending rose 0.2 percent on services and 0.3 percent on nondurable goods such as food, chemical products and paper rose 0.3 percent.