To Gene and Charles J.

[Sabri Oncu <soncu@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I don't know if you realized that, but I set my home page to
Bloomberg some years ago. Note the words "interest", "taxes",
"depreciation" and "amortization" down below. You progressive
economists must be on to something.

See you next week.

Best from your mathematician friend,

Sabri

============

Top Financial News


04/19 18:52
WorldCom Cuts Sales, Spending Forecast; Shares Tumble (Update3)
By Don Stancavish


Clinton, Mississippi, April 19 (Bloomberg) -- WorldCom Inc., the
second-largest U.S. long-distance telephone company, reduced its
2002 sales forecast as companies spend less for data and Internet
services. The shares fell as much as 20 percent.

Sales will be $21 billion to $21.5 billion, less than an earlier
forecast of $22.2 billion to $22.6 billion, WorldCom spokesman
Brad Burns said. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation
and amortization will be $7 billion to $7.5 billion compared with
a previous range of $8.4 billion to $8.5 billion, Burns said.

WorldCom joins Qwest Communications International Inc. and
BellSouth Corp. in lowering 2002 sales forecasts this week. Sales
at WorldCom and its rivals have slowed as corporations reduce
spending for phone and data services and competition drives down
prices.

``It just shows that we don't have a recovery into the telecom
sector,'' said John Maxwell, an analyst at Waddell & Reed
Financial Inc., owner of 3.17 million WorldCom shares. ``Until
you see some real concrete signs of recovery, you can't assume
that this is the bottom.''

Less Capital Spending

WorldCom said capital spending will be about $4.5 billion this
year, compared with an earlier forecast of $5 billion to $5.5
billion.

WorldCom consists of the MCI Group consumer operation and the
WorldCom Group corporate data business. Chief Executive Bernie
Ebbers in June created MCI Group shares to track the slower-
growing consumer long-distance, paging and Internet-access
operations.

WorldCom said its forecasts for MCI Group are unchanged. The
company plans to release first-quarter results on April 25.

Shares of WorldCom fell as much as $1.22 to $4.76 after the
announcement was made following the close of regular U.S.
trading. They fell 35 cents to $5.98 on the Nasdaq Stock Market
and have declined 69 percent in the past year.

BellSouth, the third-biggest U.S. local-telephone company, said
sales will grow about 1 percent this year, compared with an
earlier forecast of 4 percent growth. Qwest, the fourth-largest
U.S. phone company, expects sales as low as $18 billion this year
after earlier estimating sales as high as $19.8 billion.

AT&T Corp., the biggest U.S. long-distance operator, has forecast
that its sales will decline this year.