William Sluis

GDP Solid shrinkage After 10-plus years of ascending the heights, reaching giddy levels, there is an understandable reluctance to plumb the depths. For the economy, a record expansion that began...

MANUFACTURING Decline forecast Few moments are more ominous than when the clock strikes 12, and for the nation's industrial economy, that gong has been sounded. As of September, manufacturing has...

HOUSING Shaky bedrock? Americans' faith in the so-called new economy, driven by an endlessly expanding Internet and dominated by computer technology, has been badly shaken. Following horrific terrorist attacks, and...

RETAIL SALES No mood to shop The nation's retailers, many staring at a make-or-break holiday season, can't help but wonder how long it will take for Americans to turn their...

TRADE DEFICIT Dollar challenged By some ways of thinking, the horrific attacks last week on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were intended to send a message not only...

RETAIL SALES Homeward bound Americans suffer a disconnect when they are fed a steady diet of economic doom-and-gloom. While they certainly are concerned about fellow workers being handed their hats...

EMPLOYMENT Drip, drip, drip As a holiday devoted to American workers is at hand, the outlook for employment is somewhat disturbing. Manufacturing is in the midst of a lengthy slump,...

THE ECONOMY Prognosis brighter for 2002 An economy's descent toward negative growth, or shrinkage, is nothing to sneeze at. Witness Japan, which caught an economic cold a dozen years ago,...

INTEREST RATES One more take As Americans doze through the dog days of summer, they continue to wonder what it will take to rouse the economy from its torpor. Between...

RETAIL SALES Summer blues Retailers have been counting on a resurgence in denim sales to provide a boost to late summer spending, but so far the campaign shows promise of...