By Evelina M. Tainer, Chief Economist, Econoday
1/7/02

The employment report for December was generally in line with expectations and not a major market-moving event for the first Friday of 2002. Other figures that came out the first week of the year showed that the manufacturing sector was still declining but at a slower rate. On the whole it looks as though the economy, though still in recession at year-end, was perhaps improving. As a result, stock prices started the year with a slight upward tilt.