Headlines---

 

       Dow closes down more than 680 points

   Tech economy might get some jolts, but some got a bump in the road today

          Fed cuts interest by half-point in effort to boost economy

 

Eastern Association of Equipment Leasing Postpones Conference to Nov. 19

        First South Bank Announces Creation of New Leasing Company

           American Bank Equipment Lease Finance Unit Closing Today

              Jim Buckles: SEAMLESS WEB INTERFACE FOR YOUR VENDORS

                    Burlington Industries Adopts Enterprise Equipment Financing

                            Solution from LENDX

                       BSB  appoints Hank Kumpf  Regional Sales mgr Southeast U.S.                                                                 

 

 

“Business Leasing For Dummies" –latest book on the stands

  ( not a joke, book to hit stands this October )

 

 

Sunday Sermon Reaction and more-----

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Dow closes down more than 680 points

 

By LISA SINGHANIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

NEW YORK -- Scared investors sent stocks reeling Monday as Wall Street resumed trading after its longest shutdown since the Great Depression. The Dow Jones industrial average set a new record for a one-day point drop and closed below 9,000 for the first time in more than 2 1/2 years.

 

The Dow ended the day down about 681 points at the 8,924, according to preliminary calculations. Its previous record for a one-day drop was 617.78, set April 14, 2000.

 

The heavy selling was widely expected in a market already fragile because of poor corporate profits and outlooks. And since the attacks, which shut the nation's stock market for four days, the major airlines have announced cutbacks and reduced schedules, adding to investors' nervousness about the future.

 

But the Federal Reserve, hoping to boost the economy and the market's confidence, cut interest rates by a half-point--the eighth rate cut so far this year--an hour before trading began.

 

The nation's financial leaders had called on investors to treat the market's reopening as a buying opportunity instead of a reason to sell.

 

New York Stock Exchange chairman Richard A. Grasso was sanguine about the volatility after the opening bell: "Today's market is not important. It's the market a year from now, two years from now."

 

Many investors didn't seem to be unnerved by the market's drop. Ronald Loftus, a broker in Springfield, Mass., said he was fielding phone calls from people who wanted to know what was going on, but said he'd seen no panic selling.

"In fact, the reaction has been just the opposite," Loftus said. "Some people are looking to buy primarily out of patriotism and to show their support. They are saying it's something they can do."

 

The Dow fell in 50- and 100-point bursts as its 30 components opened for trading. When American Express, the last stock to open, began trading, the Dow's loss surpassed 600 points and the index fell below 9,000, dropping to 8,976. The blue chips last closed under 9,000 on Dec. 3, 1988, when they fell to 8,879.68.

 

The market fluctuated as expected throughout the day, with the Dow recovering to a loss of about 460 points before turning lower again in early afternoon, when the blue chips were down 721 points. The Nasdaq was down 100 points and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 51.

 

While the point declines in the Dow and Nasdaq were very large, their percentage losses were more moderate, with the Dow off nearly 7 percent and the Nasdaq down nearly 6 percent.

 

Before trading began, the New York Stock Exchange observed two minutes of silence followed by the singing of "God Bless America."

 

The opening bell was rung by members of the Police and Fire departments along with representatives of other agencies involved in the rescue and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center disaster site.

"Let us celebrate these wonderful men and women," Grasso said, calling them "our heroes." He was surrounded by federal, state and local officials on a balcony overlooking the exchange floor.

 

Outside, a huge American flag was draped across the NYSE's famed columns.

The four-day market closing was the longest for the NYSE since March 1933 when the government shuttered the exchange for more than a week for a banking holiday during the Depression.

 

Despite concerns about traders making it to work, it appeared there were the usual 3,0000 traders and other employees on the NYSE floor. But the physical effects of last week's attacks were apparent to all--the trading floor smelled heavily of smoke.

 

Meanwhile, the American Stock Exchange, forced of its home due to damage, was operating out of a handful of posts clustered in one area of the NYSE.

Jay Mahoney of Wagner Stott Bear Specialists said he had more workers than he needed to operate on Monday.

 

Asked if people were nervous about returning to the financial district, he said: "I thought that might be a concern. Over the weekend it seemed like a lot of people talked about being nervous. But everyone's here today."

 

Nick Matera of Staten Island arrived at the NYSE in the blue jacket of a trading floor worker.

 

He called the opening "symbolic more than anything else" and noted the changed environment, saying: "It's an odd feeling with the smoke and all."

 

Businesses spent the weekend cleaning up the debris littering the financial district. Utility workers laid and rewired thousands of cables to restore telecommunications and power, while the city prepared the subway system for its first real use in nearly a week.

 

But challenges remain.

 

Although the larger investment houses have relocated their operations in backup locations outside the financial district, others struggled to get their offices up and running.

 

"They're opening the exchange so that every individual investor can participate, but we can't because we don't have connectivity," said Ray Velez, a manager at a day-trading firm near the NYSE that lacks access to the Internet and other data services needed to compete in the markets.

 

A variety of steps were being taken to smooth the resumption of trading.

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced a series of rules that, among other things, make it easier for firms to buy back their own stock.

 

Grasso said there would be no restraints on trading, with limit orders being processed as well as short sales, those in which traders make money by betting the market goes down. He also said the NYSE should be able to handle any volume of trading, noting that the exchange has the capacity for five times the current average daily volume of about 1.2 billion shares.

 

Some workers returning to the Wall Street area for the first time expressed their fears.

 

"You sit next to the window and keep thinking, am I going to turn around and see a plane coming," said Jeannette Rosario, who works in information technology for an exchange clearing house.

 

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Tech economy might get some jolts, but some got a bump in the road today

 

By Brian Bergstein, Associated PressSAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)   The slumping high-tech world has a lot to offer in the aftermath of last week's terrorist attacks. Companies that specialize in technology consulting, teleconferencing, network infrastructure and security all could see a bump in business.

But it appears that whatever jolt technology companies get in coming months likely won't amount to enough to revive their sector

of the economy and end the swoon that began in 2000.

''I don't think this is big enough to turn the ship, so to

speak,'' said Donna Scott, a research director at Gartner

Dataquest.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq Stock Market was down more than 7

percent Monday afternoon as trading resumed on Wall Street for the

first time since the attacks.

Economists have predicted the overall economy could slide into a

recession because of the expected drops in air travel and other

consumer spending. That certainly wouldn't help most technology

companies, which have laid off hundreds of thousands of workers

this year to deal with slumping sales in their saturated markets.

A Taiwanese research firm, Market Intelligence Center, said the

situation will just ''worsen the severity of America's declining

(personal-computer) market.''

But although the issue in many ways seems beside the point, considering how the nation is grieving, certain segments of the technology economy could get a boost.

For example: tech companies that provide any form of security online and in the physical world.

Forrester Research analyst Carl Howe predicted that companies

such as IBM Corp., Bedford, Mass.-based RSA Security and Silicon

Valley's Counterpane Internet Security Inc. ''will have more

business than they can handle.''

RSA Security shares jumped 12 percent on the Nasdaq by mid-afternoon. Shares of Visionics Corp., a maker of security equipment that uses biometrics   the identification of people through physical characteristics   were up 87 percent.

Several analysts have recommended that companies use video

conferencing and Webcasting more often as an alternative to

traveling.

Expecting such a trend, investors eagerly bought shares in WebEx

Communications Inc., a San Jose-based seller of Internet

communications platforms. Its stock was up 33 percent by

mid-afternoon.

Shares of Polycom Inc., a Milpitas-based maker of teleconferencing products, were up 30 percent. Shares of video

conferencing supplier PictureTel Corp. of Cambridge, Mass., were up

14 percent. Both companies have made their equipment available for

free to organizations affected by the terrorist attacks.

An estimated 26.5 million square feet of occupied office space in lower Manhattan was destroyed or damaged in the attacks and the

resulting fires and collapses, according to the Grubb & Ellis real

estate company.

So the last week has shown the value of technology companies

that recover lost data and rebuild networks for displaced

businesses, and give them temporary offices outfitted with

computers, phones and network equipment.

One such services company, Rosemont, Ill.-based Comdisco Inc.,

said it has restored networks or relocated offices for more than 30

New York companies since the attacks. One client, the New York

Board of Trade, has re-created its trading floor in a Comdisco

facility in Queens.

Gartner Dataquest's Scott predicted that Comdisco and competitors such as IBM and Wayne, Pa.-based SunGard Data Systems

Inc., will see sales rise, as more companies see a need for their

services.

If that happens, it couldn't come at a better time for Comdisco, which has filed for bankruptcy and is being acquired by Hewlett-Packard Co.

But Comdisco spokeswoman Mary Moster said her firm actually

wasn't expecting much of a short-term boost, because most Fortune

500 companies already have disaster recovery in their long-term

plans.

Still, Comdisco shares were up 8 percent Monday afternoon. SunGard stock was up 9 percent.

Analysts said even companies that were well prepared likely will

need consulting and service help   a highly profitable line of business   from hardware and software companies.

The devastation also might accelerate the long-term trend toward

using the Internet to decentralize information. Business software

maker PeopleSoft Inc. has said it expects more demand in coming

months.

But those specific bumps don't reflect other potential problems.

Companies that rely heavily on fast shipping of parts   to keep

inventories low and their manufacturing process lean and efficient

  could be hurt by slowdowns in air traffic.

Both the leading PC maker, Dell Computer Corp., and the world's

top manufacturer of computer chips, Intel Corp., transferred some

air shipments to the ground last week.

Dell spokesman Mike Maher would not say if his Round Rock, Texas-based company   which bypasses stores and sells directly to

customers   would suffer if it has to keep that up for an extended

period of time.

Intel, which performs most of its manufacturing overseas, has been able to maintain its normal shipping patterns, spokesman Chuck

Mulloy said.

Its Silicon Valley rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., had been shipping parts between factories on commercial jets. If cargo is

restricted on commercial airlines, AMD would have to use air

freight, which spokesman John Greenagle said is slower and could

get more expensive. AMD already has seen its margins fall in its

fierce price war with Intel.

Still, AMD expected to be able to meet its customers' needs.

''The product doesn't spoil,'' Greenagle said. ''We're lucky in that sense.''

 

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Fed cuts interest by half-point in effort to boost economy

 

 

By Martin Crutsinger

 

ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve cut a key interest rate by one-half point Monday, trying to keep the U.S. economy from falling into a recession following the worst terrorist attack in America's history.

The Fed's eighth rate cut of the year was followed by half-point rate reductions by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Canada as central banks around the world joined in an effort to shore up the global economy.

In a statement, the European Central bank said it was cutting rates to 3.75 percent and coordinating its move with the Fed in an attempt to deal with adverse effects from the terrorist attacks in the United States.

The Fed action came after an emergency conference call among Fed policy-makers at 7:30 a.m. EDT, two hours before Wall Street would open for the first time since Tuesday's terrorist attack.

The rate cut did not avert a steep sell-off as the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 620 points in the first hour of trading before bargain hunters came in to push stocks slightly higher. The Dow was off 461 points at midday.

Analysts predicted the Fed could keep cutting rates until the markets regain confidence.

"This rate cut is just a down payment with additional cuts on the way," said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo in Minneapolis.

"Part of the problem is that global investors, who are huge players in our bond and stock markets, are nervous," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com. "If central banks across the globe are cooperating and coordinating their actions, that will help smooth out some of the panic selling."

In a related action, the Fed Board of Governors approved a half-point reduction in the discount rate, which the Fed charges on loans to banks, to 2.5 percent. The Fed last week invited banks to make full use of the discount window if they were facing unusual withdrawal problems because of disruptions following the bombing of the World Trade Center in the heart of New York's financial district.

A Fed spokeswoman said the Federal Open Market Committee, the policy-making group that sets interest rates, began its 25-minute conference call with a moment of silence for victims of the attack.

The Fed rate cut was the biggest effort so far by U.S. authorities to instill confidence in a badly shaken financial system.

In a statement explaining its action, the Fed said it would "continue to supply unusually large volumes of liquidity to the financial markets as needed until more normal market functioning is restored."

The action by the Fed was followed immediately by announcements from major banks that they will lower their prime rate, the benchmark for millions of business and consumer loans, by a similar half-point, to 6 percent.

Analysts applauded the half-point rate cut, saying it was the right move to try to bolster the economy and financial markets.

"This is an encouraging sign that the Fed is there to protect the economy and the banking system," said Richard Yamarone of Argus Research Corp.

On Sunday, President Bush urged people to get back to work and acknowledged some concern about how the terrorist attack has affected the struggling economy.

"I have great faith in the resiliency of the economy. No question about it, this incident affected our economy, but the markets open tomorrow, people go back to work. And we'll show the world," he said.

The Fed signaled that if further rate cuts are needed it will provide them, saying the balance of future risks remains tilted toward economic weakness.

"Even before the tragic events of last week, employment, production and business spending remained weak, and last week's events have the potential to damp spending further," the Fed said in its statement.

Economists have been worried that last week's four airliner hijackings and attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon could jolt Americans' confidence so much that consumers, whose spending has been keeping the economy afloat, could close their pocketbooks. That could throw the economy into recession.

To avert a full-blown downturn, the Federal Reserve has slashed interest rates seven times this year beginning with five half-point cuts in the funds rate followed by two quarter-point moves on June 27 and Aug. 21.

 

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Eastern Association of Equipment Leasing Postpones Conference to Nov. 19

 

In the interest of our members and Expo 2001 attendees who would have to travel, we have decided to postpone our 18th Annual EAEL Expo and Trade Show, originally scheduled to take place on September 24th at the Sheraton Meadowlands Hotel, to November 19, 2001. 

 

The Hotel has graciously agreed to work with us on this change.  They are moving all of the current room reservations to the appropriate days in November that correspond with our meeting.  If you need to make any changes please be sure to call the hotel.  The phone number (800) 325-3535.

 

Please call the EAEL office directly if you have any questions or would like information about Expo 2001.  The phone number is (914) 381-5830 or you can E-mail us at amfnyc@eael.org.