BAKER REPEATS HE HOPES PRIME HIKE TEMPORARY
Treasury Secretary James Baker
reiterated his hope that this week's rise in prime rates would
be a temporary blip upwards.
    "I would hope that it would simply be a temporary blip
upward as we've seen in the past," Baker said in television
interview with the Cable News Network. The interview airs
tomorrow but CNN released extracts from his remarks today.
    Baker also repeated his position that the reaction of
financial markets to U.S. tariffs on Japanese electronic goods
showed "the importance of the United States not going
protectionist. The markets were telling us...be careful."
 reuter
