Under The Radar News - Friday (pfblogs.org)

Too little too late. A survey of economists says forthcoming tax rebate checks will not stimulate the U.S. economy. "Consumers have gone into the bunkers," one says. "A $600 check isn't enough to turn things around. It took so much to wilt consumer confidence, that it's not going to be rebuilt real fast." They apparently aren't listening to White House top economist Ed Lazear who recently said stimulus checks will boost growth as soon as this quarter. The pessimistic bunch also reduced its second-half GDP growth estimate from a month ago. (But see below.) Retail shoppers snub recession talk. Consumer companies, led by giants like Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), Ford Motor (F) and Hasbro (HAS), are by-and-large exceeding Wall Street estimates. "Why, if it's a recession, are all the economically sensitive stocks leading the market?" Wells strategist James Paulsen asks. S&P 500 consumer constituents have topped consensus estimates by a robust 11.5%, the most of the index's 10 industry groups. Financials have trailed the index by 6.3%. Newsday doesn't discount Dolan. Newsday (the publication) says Newsday (the company) is seriously considering Cablevision's (CVC) $650M offer, despite insistence from News Corp.'s (NWS) Rupert Murdoch that he will prevail ...