US consumer confidence fell this month by the most since the September 2001 terrorist attacks because of worries about incomes, jobs and war with Iraq. \nThe Conference Board's consumer confidence index plunged to a nine-year low of 64 from 78.8 last month. Except for a 17-point drop the month of the attacks, this month's 14.8-point decline was the largest since April 1980, when a US mission to rescue American hostages in Iran failed. \nThe "confidence readings paint a gloomy picture," said Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board's consumer research center. "Lackluster job and financial markets, rising fuel costs and the increasing threat of war and terrorism appear to have taken a toll." \nWith three straight months of waning optimism and household incomes pinched by the highest gasoline prices since June 2001, companies are using discounts to attract customers. \nA sustained decline in confidence threatens to weaken consumer spending. \nSame-store sales in the first 25 days of this month, typically one of the weakest months of the year for retailers, fell 2.1 percent from a month earlier. While some of the decrease was due to a snowstorm that paralyzed parts of the Northeast US last week, sales had already been weakening in prior weeks, according to the Instinet Research Redbook report. \nSo far, people are confident about the housing market. Sales of previously owned homes rose last month to the highest on record, fueled by the lowest mortgage rates since the 1960s. Home resales increased to an annual pace of 6.09 million, the National Association of Realtors said. \nEconomists had expected the consumer sentiment index to fall to 77 this month, based on the median of 62 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. The lowest estimate was 74. The Conference Board surveys 5,000 households about general economic conditions, their employment prospects and their spending plans. Research has shown confidence levels correlate more closely with current spending than with future spending. \nStill, a 1998 Federal Reserve Bank of New York study found "questions that ask about consumers' perceptions of job availability typically have the most explanatory power for future movements in consumption." \nAmericans were less upbeat this month about their present situation and the future. The percentage of consumers who expect their incomes to increase six months from now fell to the lowest since the Conference Board began keeping records in 1967.
SECRET OUT: Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung yesterday accidentally revealed that the infections occurred at the ministry’s Taoyuan General Hospital The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the fifth COVID-19 case in a cluster infection at a Taoyuan hospital, where four other medical workers were confirmed to have been infected over the past week. The latest case is a nurse who had tested negative on Tuesday last week, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, told a news conference. However, on Thursday, she developed symptoms, such as nasal congestion and a cough, and a second test yesterday found that she was infected, Chen said. She is the head nurse of a ward where two
VIGILANCE: While two of the cases are family members of a nurse, there is no sign of community spread and the source of infection is identifiable, the CECC said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported four new domestic COVID-19 cases associated with a cluster infection at a Taoyuan hospital. Since the first case was identified on Tuesday last week, five healthcare workers — two doctors and three nurses — at the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Taoyuan General Hospital have tested positive for the virus. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that two of the four new cases are the husband and daughter of a nurse (case No. 863) who had earlier been confirmed to have COVID-19. The husband (case No. 864)
PILLARS OF DEMOCRACY: US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft posted online after the virtual meeting that Taiwan should be able to share its successes in global venues President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft yesterday held a virtual meeting, during which Tsai described Taiwan as a “force for good” that deserves a place on the world stage, while Craft reaffirmed Washington’s support for Taiwan’s international participation. The virtual talk was held at about 11am, after Craft’s trip to Taiwan was abruptly canceled. She had been scheduled to meet with Tsai in person at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday morning as part of a three-day visit to Taiwan. On Tuesday, the US Department of State canceled all of its planned trips, citing a need
‘CONTAINED’: The CECC is not considering locking down the hospital where the infections were detected, as their source has been found, Chen Shih-chung said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported one new domestic COVID-19 case, a doctor at a hospital in northern Taiwan where three other medical workers were confirmed to have the disease over the past week. The new case — No. 856 — is a doctor who had treated a COVID-19 patient together with case No. 838, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center. Case No. 838, confirmed as a locally infected COVID-19 case on Tuesday, was the first case in the hospital cluster, and later infected his partner, who is a nurse at the same
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