“It is not desirable to do too...

“It is not desirable to do too many wiggles.”

--Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chairman, suggesting that the central bank will not encourage further interest rate reductions unless the economy slips badly.

“It is death by a thousand cuts. All of the defense companies are taking hits right now. This is just the beginning of the beginning of a very long downturn.”

--Jack Modzelewski, analyst at Paine Webber Inc., reacting to big quarterly losses reported by McDonnell Douglas and Northrop, along with other signs that aerospace firms are suffering from federal budget cutbacks and unfavorable contracts.