Also in this column:
No longer on hold.
Fannie Mae buys bonds.
Here's a new economic indicator:
The average waiting time for a restaurant table on Friday nights at a dozen popular "casual-dining" chains has dropped from half an hour in mid-February to 18 minutes last week, according to a weekly survey by Wachovia Securities analyst Jeff Omohundro and his team.
Does that mean people have cut back on eating out?
Or that, as unemployment rises, Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse have been able to find more cheap labor to bus tables and wash plates?
Wachovia isn't drawing many conclusions yet. It only started this index in January, and it's too soon to be able to tell a seasonal variation from a drop in demand, according to Omohundro.
In case you're in a rush: Last Friday, Wachovia says it took an average of more than 40 minutes to get a table at Outback Steakhouse or Carrabba's Italian Grill - but 12 minutes or less at Applebee's and Ruby Tuesday.
MIIX's long road back
Last Friday, money-losing MIIX Group Inc., of Lawrenceville, N.J., reported that it had "received approval" from the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance "to raise capital to form a new" medical-malpractice insurance company. MIIX cited a series of supportive statements from Banking and Insurance Commissioner Holly Bakke.
But according to the department, MIIX's plan is a long way from approval. New Jersey "has not approved a new company," spokesman Peter Hartt said yesterday. Last week, the department forced MIIX to stop writing policies. Earlier this year, MIIX stopped writing malpractice policies in Pennsylvania.
To stay in business, MIIX or a successor is going to have to find lots of money from new investors soon. Then, it will have to win approval from the department.
MIIX stock peaked at $18 per share shortly after going public at $13.50 a share in July 1999.
MIIX, which insures 7,000 New Jersey doctors, closed yesterday at $1.14, down 11 cents.
No longer on hold?
Washington Mutual Inc., one of the nation's largest home-mortgage lenders, says it has cleaned up tax escrow and customer service problems that tangled too many homeowners in the months after it bought PNC Financial Services Group's mortgage portfolio last year.
