Moves between set meetings are relatively rare although one of the January cuts was an intermeeting move. The Fed said companies were trimming production in order to deal with stocks of unsold goods and noted that spending had ''firmed a bit'' since last year. There is abundant evidence that the U.S. economy has lost much of its steam over the past year. The factory sector is widely acknowledged to be in recession, with orders shrinking, while other sectors have slowed less abruptly. Growth in gross domestic product slowed to a 1.1 percent annual rate in the final three months last year from 2.2 percent in the third quarter, contrasting starkly with a sizzling 8.3 percent pace in the last quarter of 1999.
Worried consumers tend to snap shut their wallets.
Some economic sectors, notably housing construction and sales, have held up relatively well, benefiting from lower interest rates that mean cheaper monthly mortgage payments. Opera and WebTV spoof Navigator. We do strict client detection. If you want to allow spoofing, take out the tests for opera and webtv. No I'm not investing yet.