61.   House Speaker Newt Gingrich has said he believes the Congress could repeal the tax increase by Memorial Day.

62.   If conditions are perceived as too healthy, it might raise fears of another interest-rate increase by Fed policymakers at their next meeting.

63.   If the forecast proves accurate, and is confirmed by subsequent data, that could point to an interest-rate increase by the Fed later in the year.

64.   In fact, the yield on the December futures indicates they expect as much as half a percentage point increase by then.

65.   In Mexico, the government must authorize any telephone rate increases by Telmex because it holds a monopoly on wired-telephone calls.

66.   In other words, the market is pricing in a rate increase by the Fed.

67.   In part because of expectations of an interest-rate increase by the Fed, the dollar rose against the yen.

68.   Increases by all three would do serious damage.

69.   Indeed, that kind of thinking has led global economists to predict that any rate increases by the European Central Bank may be months away.

70.   Interest rate increases by the Fed slow the economy by making mortgages, corporate bonds and other kinds of borrowings more costly.