After three years of lackluster growth, the economy has finally been launched on a sustainable recovery that will help make this holiday season the best retailers have seen in years, private forecasters said Monday. However, they said the unemployment rate will improve only slowly. Both the National Association for Business Economics and a survey of top economics forecasters done by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia featured upward revisions from previous forecasts. The panel of 28 forecasters that prepares the NABE outlook predicted that the overall economy as measured by the gross domestic product would expand by 4.5 percent next year, the fastest annual growth pace in two decades.
Intel Corp. said Monday it has demonstrated a tiny computer chip built with the next generation of manufacturing technology – called 65-nanometer circuit design – which it expects will be ready for use in 2005. The 65-nanometer milestone is significant because of its tiny size. A nanometer is a mere billionth of a meter, meaning 10 million 65-nanometer transistors could fit on the tip of a ball-point pen. Intel Corp. said the development of the new circuits renews its confidence that Moore’s Law, which projects the steady improvement in chip performance, remains in place for at least another 10 years.
The Treasury Department sold three-month bills Monday at a discount rate of 0.93 percent, down from 0.935 percent last week. Six-month bills sold at a rate of 1.010 percent, unchanged from last week. The new rates understate the actual return to investors – 0.946 percent for three-month bills with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,976.80 and 1.032 percent for a six-month bill selling for $9,949.20. The Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year constant maturity Treasury bills, the most popular index for changing adjustable rate mortgages, fell to 1.3 percent last week from 1.36 percent the previous week.
Several financial advisers are featured today on “Getting Your Dough to Rise,” the personal finance show hosted by Chuck Noel that airs 4:30-5:30 p.m. on KSER 90.7 FM, Snohomish County’s public radio station. Guests include Seattle investment advisers Bill Donoghue, of W. E. Donoghue and Co. and Bill Fleckenstein of Fleckenstein Capital Inc.; Seattle CPA Scott Pinckney, who will provide year-end tax tips, and Kathleen Victor, a Redmond licensed appraiser, who will provide an update on the antique and collectibles market and some tips for holiday gifts.
Herald staff and news services
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
