Thursday, January 4, 2001

The Fed made a dramatic move today and it was needed. The Fed is now our friend. Al Goldman, chief market strategist at A.G. Edwards, on a surprise interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve which sent U.S. stocks soaring. The Nasdaq composite surged a record 14.17 percent to 2,616.68 on the central bank's move.

• Myanmar observes Independence Day.
• Deena Esteban, an elementary school teacher, is scheduled to be sentenced in Manassas, Virginia, for bringing a loaded handgun to school.
• Nathan Hall, a former ski instructor, is to be sentenced in Colorado for negligent homicide in the death of Alan Cobb. Witnesses say Hall was skiing too fast for conditions when he collided with Cobb in Vail.

• On Friday, January 5, Pope John Paul II marks the end of the Holy Year by presiding over celebrations at the Vatican, which continue through Saturday.
• On Saturday, January 6, the U.S. Congress meets to count the Electoral College votes.
• On Sunday, January 7, the 27th annual People's Choice Awards will be presented in Pasadena, California.
• On Monday, January 8, the U.S. Supreme Court goes back to work after its holiday recess.
• On Tuesday, January 9, a total eclipse of the moon will be visible in northern Canada, Alaska and most of the northeastern United States.

• In 1896, Utah became the 45th state.
• In 1948, Britain granted Burma independence.
• In 1951, North Korean and Communist Chinese troops captured Seoul, South Korea, during the Korean War.
• In 1960, an automobile accident killed the 46-year-old French author, Albert Camus.
• In 1965, during his State of the Union Address, U.S. President Johnson presented the goals of his "Great Society."
• In 1965, the poet T.S. Eliot died at the age of 76 in London, England.
• In 1995, the U.S. House of Representatives elected former Rep. Newt Gingrich Speaker of the House after the 104th Congress, the first Republican controlled Congress since the Eisenhower era, convened.
• In 1999, Elizabeth Dole, former GOP presidential candidate and wife of former Sen. Bob Dole, endorsed the presidential candidacy of then Texas Gov. George W. Bush.