Newsgroup: it.economia.borsa
Titolo: +-+ X Dmaster +-+

Vorrei farti un paio di domande:
Cosa ne pensi di Open gate e delle pèrospettive di crescita del titolo?
Mi pare che domani parli Greenspan sai a che proposito e se secondo te ci
sarà un ulteriore taglio dei tassi?

 Vorrei farti un paio di domande:
Per Opengate non so... Greenspan parla davanti alla commissione bancaria del
Senato, purtroppo l'articolo e' in inglese comunque questi sono i dettagli:
Ciao DMaster
14:37 11Feb2001 Greenspan to give prognosis on economy on Tuesday
    By Marjorie Olster
    NEW YORK, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The last time Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan offered up his twice-yearly testimony to lawmakers on the U.S.
economy, it could have been summed up as a mid-summer night's dream.
    This week, it will be more like the winter of discontent.
    When he last delivered monetary policy testimony in July, a string of
rate hikes appeared to be slowing the booming U.S. economy to a healthy but
more manageable pace, inflation was tame, and Greenspan in 2000 was about as
popular as the Beatles in 1964.
    But when the venerated Fed chief presents the testimony  that used to be
known as Humphrey Hawkins to the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, he
will probably be forced to repeat what had to be a painful admission for him
several weeks ago -- that the economy has ground to a near standstill.
    Greenspan will also face angry Democrats who felt slighted when he gave
a green light to tapping huge budget surpluses for tax cuts in his last
appearance on Capitol Hill on Jan. 25.
    That gave a major boost to Republican President George W. Bush's plan
for $1.6 trillion in tax reductions.
    Though fiscal policy dominated last month's hearing before the Senate
Budget Committee, most expect it to be a secondary theme on Tuesday with the
focus squarely on the economy.
    PUT ON A HAPPY FACE
    Greenspan may try to put a cheery face on fears that the economy might
be slipping into recession, stressing instead the good chance of a rebound
in the second half of the year.
    "I think there will be a good deal of emphasis given to the longer-range
turnaround," said David Resler, chief economist at Nomura Securities
International in New York. "This too shall pass -- that's the Fed's view."
    As he did in late January, the Fed chief will probably stop short of
saying the country has slipped into a recession, loosely defined as two
straight quarters of contraction in gross domestic product. He did admit
though that economic growth was probably "very close to zero."
    The economy expanded at a paltry 1.4 percent annual pace in the
October-December quarter and a number of Wall Street firms are forecasting
flat growth or a contraction in this quarter.
    But if the economy does eke out a positive number for growth this
quarter, the expansion will have crawled to the finish line of an
unprecedented 10 years of unbroken expansion.
    LANGUAGE OF RISKS
    Investors will be closely following Greenspan's testimony on Tuesday for
any hints on future interest rate moves.
    The Fed usually couches economic diagnoses in the language of risks and
Greenspan is unlikely to stray from that formula. Since December, the Fed
has seen the chief threat to the expansion as excessive weakness rather than
inflation.
    Greenspan will likely cite the same problem areas identified in
statements issued by the Fed after it cut key rates by a total of a full
percentage point in moves on Jan. 3 and Jan. 31.
    The manufacturing sector has contracted for six consecutive months and
businesses are laboring to reduce inventories due to falling demand.
Consumer confidence has weakened and high energy prices are depressing
consumer and business spending.
    In its Jan. 31 statement on the rate cut, the Fed said the circumstances
called for "a rapid and forceful response" -- very aggressive language for
the cautious Fed, which sent a signal to investors that central bankers were
not going to drag their feet if more needed to be done.
    Many investors believe another cut is in store at or before the next Fed
meeting on March 20, but they will look to Greenspan's testimony to gauge
how bold that move might be.
    "Probably he will try to be very balanced and repeat many of the themes
from the Jan. 25 appearance -- that we are in what is largely an
inventory-related correction although there are risks that it could turn
into something worse, and that the long-run outlook is still very favorable
because of all the productivity trends," said John Youngdahl, a Fed-watching
economist at Goldman Sachs in New York.
    Financial market conditions have improved somewhat since the Fed rate
cuts. Private credit markets have loosened up as lower interest rates
increased investor appetite for riskier debt securities like junk bonds.
    The stock market is a different story. The S&P 500, a broad measure of
the market, has fallen about 4.0 percent so far this month while the Nasdaq,
a barometer of volatile technology stocks, is down about 12 percent for the
same period.
    With the economy slowing, inflation has become a less-pressing concern
at the Fed, leaving a clear path for more rate cuts.
    FISCAL MINEFIELD
    Though the Fed chief may face tough questioning on the      economic
slowdown, the more contentious issue will probably be  his fiscal policy
views.
    Greenspan landed himself in the middle of a political minefield in
January when he offered a rationale for tax cuts.
    Many Democrats opposed Bush's tax cut plan and had been counting on
Greenspan to reiterate what he had said in prior discussions, that paying
down the debt should be the first priority and tax cuts the second.