^ The Federal Reserve Board is normally the Stealth bomber of government agencies, zooming in without warning to raise or lower interest rates, and confirming weeks later what action was taken. But last Friday, in an extraordinary pre-emptive strike against a possible surge of inflation, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan declared that the central bank had raised short-term rates that very day. Although Greenspan had warned earlier in the week that an increase was likely, the news sent shock waves through Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 96.24 points to close Friday at 3871.42 for the sharpest sell-off since...
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