Stocks slip...Personal income seen edging up...Sentiment flat?

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New York-AP -- Wall Street remains focused on the Iraqi war, and that has the market putting in some choppy performances. Yesterday (Thursday) stocks ended little changed, but not before opening sharply lower, clawing their way into positive territory, and then slipping a bit by the close.

The chief concern right now is that the fighting could last for months, putting pressure on an already sluggish economy as uneasy businesses and consumers curtail their spending.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 28 points at 82-oh-one. The Dow retreated 50 points on Wednesday and shed 307 on Monday, the market's worst day in six months.

The market's broader gauges also posted modest losses. The Nasdaq composite fell three points to 13-hundred-84. The Standard and Poor's 500 index declined a point and a-half to 868.

(Washington-Dow Jones/AP) -- Economists are looking for a very modest increase in personal income in February.

The market consensus forecast is for income to have risen two-tenths of one percent and for personal spending to have slipped two tenths of a percent.

A survey by Dow Jones Newswires and business channel C-N-B-C came up with a slightly different result -- a minimal one-tenth percent increase in personal income and an unchanged level of consumer spending.

The data will be of interest to analysts who are keeping a close on the habits of consumers.

The Commerce Department is due to release the personal income and consumption data for February at 8:30 a-m Eastern time.

(New York-Dow Jones/AP) -- The University of Michigan's final consumer-sentiment reading for March is expected to be unchanged from the preliminary reading.

The median estimate of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and financial news channel C-N-B-C is for the Michigan consumer sentiment index to hold at the mid-month reading of 75. But that would be a decline from the 79-point-nine reading at the end of February.

The University of Michigan is expected to release its consumer sentiment index to subscribers around 9:45 a-m Eastern time.

On Tuesday, the Conference Board released its March index of consumer confidence, which fell to 62-point-five from 64-point-eight in February.

(New York-AP) -- Oil prices have risen above 30 dollars-a-barrel for the first time since war broke out in Iraq.

In New York futures trading, crude for May delivery rose a-dollar-74 yesterday (Thursday) to close at 30 dollars, 37 cents a barrel.

In fact, the price of oil on futures markets has risen nearly 13 percent since last Friday, when it dropped to a three-month low.

There are concerns about worldwide supplies as the prospect grows that the military conflict with Iraq could be prolonged.

That's not the only thing traders are worried about.

Commercial inventories of crude are extremely low in the United States at a time when refiners are cranking out gasoline for the summer driving season.

Also, supplies from Nigeria and Venezuela are down because of labor strife. Those problems along with the lack of Iraqi exports have taken more than three (m) million barrels a day out of the world market.

(Washington-AP) -- Ignoring calls for more time, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell says the government's media ownership review will be completed in June.

Powell says regulators probably will vote June second on a broad overhaul of rules limiting ownership of newspapers and radio and T-V stations.

The agency is studying whether decades-old ownership restrictions are suitable for a market altered by satellite broadcasts, cable television and the Internet. Powell repeatedly has said changes are needed.

It is widely believed the two other Republicans on the five-member commission also want to loosen regulations.

The owners of the four major television networks have asked the F-C-C to abolish the ownership rules, saying the regulations restrict their ability to grow and stay competitive.

Critics say weakened restrictions will lead to more mergers and a few large companies controlling what people read, hear and watch.

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