ldquoI didnrsquot see the ballrdquo Holliday said

Falling demand left most firms persimistic about theeconomic outlook for 2009, the survey found. About 78 percentof respondents expected GDP to be lower than last year. Real GDP was likely to fall by more than 1 percent, 52percent of the respondents reckoned. In the last survey inOctober, only 38 percent of respondents anticipated a decline. Slack demand and lack of credit are forcing firms to cutcapital spending and axe jobs, according to the survey. About39 percent of firms said they planned to reduce payrolls overthe next six months, while 17 percent expected to hire people. The survey found that labor market conditions deterioratedsharply in late 2008, confirming the government's payrollsreport for December which showed 1.9 million jobs were lost inthe last four months of the year.

Given the harsh economic climate, more firms are resortingto price cuts to lure buyers, with only 12 percent saying theyraised prices in the last quarter. This was the lowest sincethe end of 1998 and could likely heighten fears of deflation.Wage pressures are also muted. JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Jan. Itssubsidiaries and affiliates, AT&T operating companies, are the providers ofAT&T services in the United States and around the world. Among their offeringsare the world's most advanced IP-based business communications services, thenation's fastest 3G network and the best wireless coverage worldwide, and thenation's leading high speed Internet access and voice services.

Aspart of their three-screen integration strategy, AT&T operating companies areexpanding their TV entertainment(C) 2009 AT&T Intellectual Property All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&Tlogo and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T IntellectualProperty and/or AT&T affiliated companies.Note: This AT&T news release and other announcements are available as partof an RSS feed at http:// For more information and detaileddisclaimer information, please review this announcement in the AT&T newsroomat http:// Inc.Gretchen Schultz of AT&T Inc., 1-407-237-3324, . ) The St. Louis Cardinals, a team many picked to win the World Series, is on the brink of elimination after yesterday’s stunning 3-2 loss at Dodger Stadium.The Los Angeles Dodgers scored two runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to take a commanding 2-0 series lead in their best-of-five series with the Cardinals. The easy target for this loss for the Cardinals is LF Matt Holliday.In case you missed it, the Cardinals were leading 2-1 with two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the ninth. James Loney hit a routine linedrive to left field, but Holliday didn’t see the ball, the ball hit him right in the bread basket, and the ball dropped in.“I didn’t see the ball,” Holliday said.