FRANK SESNO, CNN ANCHOR: The day after President Clinton boasted of what he called an "economic revolution" in his State of the Union address, there's new evidence of a roaring economy and a jumpy stock market. After a quick plunge at the opening bell, the Dow is now down 120 points. Just-released numbers show the U.S. economy grew at a red-hot 5.8 percent, an annual rate for the last three months of 1999. For the full year, the growth rate, the Gross Domestic Product of all goods and services, was up by 4 percent, down slightly from the year before, '98. Joining us now from New York is financial editor Myron Kandel of CNNfn. Myron, what's going on here?</s>MYRON KANDEL, CNNFN FINANCIAL EDITOR: Well, you've described it right, Frank. It is a sizzling-hot economy. As a matter of fact, the figures for the fourth quarter even surpassed the expectations on Wall Street, better than expected, and it indicates that the economy is going at pretty break-neck speed, led by spending both by consumers and by businesses. Now, that's the good news. And the bad news is Wall Street doesn't like that kind of strength because it's worried that that will lead the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates, and that's traditionally bad for the stock market. So that's why: We've seen good news for main street out today, and Wall Street doesn't particularly like it, Frank.</s>SESNO: Myron Kandel in New York, thanks very much.
New Figures Showing Red-Hot Economy Send Dow Plunging on Fears of Interest Rate Hike