We also believe that we will need further interest rate cuts in the near future.

The manufacturing sector's acute underlying weaknesses reinforce our view that we will need further interest rate cuts later in the year,

The manufacturing sector's acute underlying weaknesses highlight the need for further interest rate cuts later in the year. We do not necessarily call for, or expect, a further interest rate cut on Thursday. But the economy has clearly weakened and confidence is faltering. The MPC must be ready to act firmly to counter the downward pressures on the economy and to alleviate the plight of manufacturing.

We are looking for a sponsor to underwrite this and are hopeful there will be sufficient interest from one which will not interfere with the obligations we owe our present race sponsors.

Really, I expect the light volume to probably last until the Fed stops raising interest rates, and that will kind of depend on the economic outlook that we see, in terms of how much growth we have at the end of this interest-rate cycle. It really tells me that there is a lack of conviction from the buyers and a lack of conviction from the sellers, ... And it's somewhat psychological because people have their stocks, they're down, they don't want to sell them. And that's only been going on for, what, two or three months now? The real question is, after six or seven or eight months and stocks are still down -- will people start selling at that point? And maybe the volume picks up at that point.

I think we will get a lot of interest, but I don't think the standard will be the number of people. It's going to be what the experience is, and hopefully a fair amount of people will come to see it.