We may be down, but we aren't frugal.
Consumer confidence in the U.S. economy sank to a nine-month low in August, but demand for cars, boats and other big-ticket items climbed in July, according to two reports released Tuesday.
The New York-based Conference Board, a private research group, reported that its Consumer Confidence Index fell to a nine-month low of 93.5 in August, from 97.4 in July.
"For the economy to start accelerating sharply, consumer confidence will have to start improving," said economist Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pa.
Paradoxically, orders to U.S. factories for pricey manufactured durable goods jumped by 8.7% in July, the largest gain since October.
Like dominoes
Let the indictments roll.
WorldCom Inc.'s former chief financial officer, Scott Sullivan, was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on fraud charges related to the $7.68 billion accounting scandal that forced the Clinton, Miss.-based telecommunications giant into bankruptcy court.
The grand jury also indicted WorldCom's former director of general accounting, Buford Yates, for his role in the alleged scheme aimed at artificially inflating WorldCom's earnings by hiding expenses.
Getting tough
What's this? A meaner, bossier, less patient Securities and Exchange Commission?
On Tuesday, the SEC voted 5-0 to shorten the time companies have to file their annual and quarterly reports.
The commission also came out in favor of some provisions of the recently enacted corporate accountability law, specifically one requiring faster disclosure of executives' stock transactions and another forcing corporate muckety-mucks to sign off on their companies' financial statements.
"We are determined to give real teeth and meaning to the protections of the new law," said SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt. The SEC is requiring companies to file their annual financial statements 60, rather than 90, days after the year ends. And quarterly reports are due 35 days after the end of the quarter, instead of 45 days.
Righting a wrong
MetLife Inc. on Thursday said it had reached a preliminary settlement of a class action accusing the New York insurer of charging blacks more than whites for small-value life insurance policies. MetLife will shell out $160 million in benefits and refunds to the owners of about 1.8 million policies purchased between 1901 and 1972.
The MetLife settlement has received preliminary approval from U.S. District Court in Manhattan, but it must receive final approval by the court before it can be implemented.
A hearing has been set for Feb. 7.
His hands were tied
Hey, don't look at me, said Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan.
With the New Economy stock bubble being blamed in part on greedy CEOs, conflicted analysts and unscrupulous accountants, Mr. Greenspan said Friday that there was nothing he could have done to prevent it.
"The notion that a well-timed incremental tightening could have been calibrated to prevent the late 1990s bubble is almost surely an illusion," the chairman said in a kickoff speech at the Fed's annual economic conference in Kansas City, Mo.
Mr. Greenspan insisted that there is little a central bank can do to counter market psychology.
This from the man whose every utterance moves the market.
