Alan Rosen This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Fed Cuts Interest Rates a Half Point, But Its Powers Seem to Be Limited

   www.j-bradford-delong.net/macr - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/3/2001   Last Visited: 1/28/2002

   Alan Rosen, chief executive of Continuum Chemical Corp., a Houston industrial-services company, bought two Ford pickups -- a $27,000 F-150 and a $29,000 F-350 -- for his business. "It was a deal you couldn't pass up because you're using Ford's money to finance your future," he says. He figures he saved between $7,000 and $9,000 in financing costs.
   
   Big auto makers said Tuesday that sales in September held up much better than most in the industry and on Wall Street expected. GM's sales were only 2.9% below last September's levels. Ford says sales to consumers -- that is, excluding fleet and commercial sales -- were down just 2% or 3%, with the exception of the New York City area. And German auto maker Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's September sales in the U.S. set a record, although the 8.7% increase over last year was smaller than in any month this year.
   
   Fed officials remain confident that monetary policy retains its power to get the economy growing.