By Evelina M. Tainer, Chief Economist, Econoday
March 28, 2003

There is no doubt now that last week's surge in stock prices was premature. As the war entered its second week, investors were more sedate and, in fact, more concerned that the war would actually last for months rather than just a few weeks. Military or civilian casualties, whatever the side of the battle-line, don't make for pleasant TV viewing. Despite all that, and the fact that economic reports were uniformly negative this week, stock prices barely budged. The daily losses were small. Bond prices were lifted as investors realized that the war would not end soon. This brought Treasury yields down a bit, although not back to the levels seen a couple of weeks ago.