Saturday, May 17, 2003

Finance Matrix Loads $42,508,303 Opening Day. Total by May. 18, 2003: $137,500,000 (Estimate) Source: Box Office Mojo Econony U.S. Housing starts slowed sharply in April, falling 6.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted 1.63 million annual rate after rising a 6.6 percent in March. Source: The Commerce Department Econony The report on consumer sentiment said its preliminary estimate for May is up to 93.2, versus 86 in April and 77.6 in March. Source: University of Michigan Finance Between 1997 and 2002, women-owned businesses surged by 11%, more than 1.5 times the rate for all privately-held startups (6%). Meanwhile, their workforces increased by 18% -- more than twice the overall national average of 8%. Source: Center for Women's Business Research Technology Number of the 158 used hard drives purchased for an MIT study this year that contained recoverable data : 129 -- Minimum number of credit-card numbers the hard drives contained : 6,650 Source: Simson L. Garfinkel, MIT 7:08:00 PM    comment []