By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – Let's all take a good deep breath as we go into this week. In fact, let's take lots of deep breaths. It's imperative that we stay focused. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.
Already it is reported that the stock market was off this morning, due to investor selling ahead of September 11th. That, in spite of the positive news that companies are increasing their inventories anticipating a pick-up in business. This was the second straight month that inventories were up. We haven't seen a consecutive rise since November and December of 2000. But wholesale sales also rose leaving the inventory-to-sales ratio unchanged at a record low of 1.23. "This measures how long it would take in months for a company to exhaust its current inventory." *
On Thursday, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan will speak on the economy before the U.S. House Budget committee. All ears will be focused on Alan. What does he see now? Will he give us a hint on the future movement of interest rates? I heard someone say today, "Financial markets do not like uncertainty." I think what he meant to say was Wall Street doesn't like uncertainty. This is an industry that probes and analyzes and charts every figure and fact to come up with some sort of direction where markets are heading. Although, I must say to their credit, there hasn't been much predicting lately. If only they would actually come out and say "don't know."
In the meantime, Friday will also bear some importance. The PPI, Producer Price Index, will come out as will retail sales. Has there been any inflation and is the loyal consumer still consuming? But right now we are all inspired by the significance of first anniversary of September 11th.
DFW International Airport will hold a ceremony at 8:30 Wednesday morning in remembrance of the victims from last year's terrorist attacks. They also will pay tribute to the employees and public safety workers that were invaluable during and after the attacks. No other industry was so directly affected by that day - and stood so tall. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.
*Wall Street Journal September 9, 2002