Katrina's impact.
Byline: James C. Cooper & K. Madigan To a great extent, Katrina has rendered useless much of the economic data due out in coming weeks. But the reports will have value in one critical way: They should generally show that overall growth prior to the hurricane had...

Rs opened weaker in early trade.
Rupee opened the day at 45.78/80 levels weaker than the previous day close at 45.73 but rupee might be helped by accumulated dollar inflows after the previous day's holiday, however sentiment will be wary as the dollar steadied against major currencies. Rupee has opened above 0.11 percent...

Ford Motor Company's April U.S. Sales Decline 14.5%.
DEARBORN, Mich., May 1 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. customers purchased or leased 318,812 cars and trucks from Ford, Mercury, Lincoln, Jaguar, Volvo, and Land Rover dealers in April, down 14.5 percent from a year ago. "April auto sales suggest that consumer spending growth may have weakened...

Ruddick Provides First Quarter Outlook; Continued Weakness in A&E Sales and A&E Operating Profit Harris Teeter Operating Profit Continues Strong.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Ruddick Corporation today reported that A&E has continued to experience weakness in sales due primarily to the slowdown in consumer spending in the US. While the results for the first fiscal quarter of 2002 which ends on December 30, 2001, are not fully known at this...

High-Tech Economic Prediction; Stronger-Than-Expected Technology Spending Growth In Second Half 2001.
JERICHO, N.Y., Feb. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- CRN believes that the ongoing decline in interest rates, coupled with the growing expectation of a big tax cut, will pull consumers out of their "gloom and doom" mood by the early summer. This will lead to a resumption of strong...

Inflation seen as bottoming out.
Byline: FIL C. SIONIL After a sustained drop over the last 10 months, inflation rate is expected to creep up the rest of the year as the confluence of economic factors, specifically the series of oil price hikes, would now take its toll on the consumer price...

Ethnic skin care: more consumers have more buying power. But that hasn't provided a sales lift.
THE BUYING POWER of various ethnic populations is on the rise in the U.S., but many challenges still lie ahead for skin care companies. ACNieslen reported sales of skin bleaching and toning products fell 10.5% to $27.3 million for the year ended Aug. 7, excluding Wal-Mart sales. Sales in...

Real GDP growth predicted.
According to Smith Travel Research, U.S. lodging industry revenue per available room increased 1.9 percent during the 28-day period ending Oct. 4 from comparable previous-year levels. Increases in the Institute of Supply Management's indices for manufacturing and nonmanufacturing activity in September indicate continued economic expansion. Further increases...

Gotta Grow: Taxation in a time of war.
Tax cutting is a contact sport in Washington, but the Bush economic team appears not to understand this. They have been mau-maued by Democratic class warriors into accepting demand-side tax cuts, and ignoring one of the wise insights that won Milton Friedman a Nobel Prize-that people will not permanently...

A slow journey to the infoimaging wonderland. (IPC).
The U.S. economic data for the second quarter has been released just in time for the reporting of the State of the Industry. A survey from the Institute of Supply Management shows that U.S. manufacturing activity fell from 56.2 in June to 50.5 in July, the biggest monthly drop...