<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1255"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2600.0" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Some Scottish economic analyst was just on CNBC Europe.  The interviewer asked him about signs of a weakness in the trend of consumer spending in the US.  The analyst replied that consumer spending in the US actually seems quite strong, it is just that the consumer is much more selective about where and how much of his money he will spend.  Further he stated that people are becoming more picky about what stocks to invest in or whether to put money into the market at all.  </FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>He then reaffirmed the strength of the US consumer sector.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>HUH?!</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Please help me remove my ignorance by explianing his obviously sound logic.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Bryan</FONT> </DIV></BODY></HTML>