By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – It's Friday so "It's Only Money," a review of the big and not-so-big stories of the week. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.
So repeat after me, in the stock market, "September is historically a down month, September is historically a down month." I hope we don't have to keep this mantra until the end of the month.
Even the surprising increase for August retail sales can't support the market. That increase came from cars. A lot of automobiles are leaving the lots as automakers keep those incentives coming. The University of Michigan's mid-month consumer sentiment index dropped three points, while future expectations fell slightly by six-tenths of a percent.
And in the "who's following who" scenario, the markets were down this morning following the lower overseas stock markets which followed yesterday's U.S. lower market.
Last week, Dallas-based Monarch Dental Corporation announced it didn't have the funds to repay the bank syndicate that demanded immediate payment in full of about $63 million of outstanding debt. Well, last night Monarch announced it has entered into a letter of intent with Bright Now! Dental, Inc. That means they are selling the company at its debt at five dollars a share.
The Business Journal also reported "'The City of Dallas' website has been selected the fifth-best city government site in the 2002 Best of the Web contest sponsored by the Center for Government and Government Technology magazine." My gosh, there's a rag for everything. I must say that when I visit the site, besides being easy to navigate it's got everything you wanted to know except how we get rid of these level orange and level red days.
And how remiss of me, last month Kool-Aid, now owned by Kraft, turned 75 years old. The drink that started many of us on the entrepreneurial road began with seven flavors. There are now twenty. And adding to San Antonio's fame, that Texas town can now claim to be the third-highest in Kool-Aid consumption. From 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.