By Evelina M. Tainer, Chief Economist, Econoday
December 13, 2002

Friendly economic news appeared at the end of the week, but did little to keep investor sentiment, and stocks, from sinking further. Bond yields edged down modestly. The FOMC meeting didn't deliver any surprises, standing pat as expected.

President Bush didn't waste any time putting together a new economic team. He named John Snow (formerly of CSX Corp) the new Treasury Secretary, Stephen Friedman (formerly at Goldman Sachs) as head of the National Economic Council, and William Donaldson (recently at Aetna Corp but previously of the Wall Street firm that bore his name) as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Though Snow and Friedman have been strong deficit hawks, they now, as part of the Bush team, have promised to advocate growth. These men might not be all that different from O'Neill in substance, but certainly in style.