Dow Jones Economic Sentiment Indicator Up Only Slightly to 38.7; Suggests Recovery Could Be Losing Momentum

/PRNewswire/ -- The media's coverage of mixed economic news led to a marginal rise in the Dow Jones Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) in December. The ESI rose to 38.7, up only minimally from 38.3 in November. This slight rise is the ESI's third weakest performance in a year and much less convincing than increases in October and November.

While the ESI ends the year significantly higher than the 22.4 level it registered in January at the start of the year, December's weaker performance means the indicator failed to break back above the level it held before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008.

The Dow Jones Economic Sentiment Indicator aims to predict the health of the U.S. economy by analyzing the broad coverage of 15 major daily newspapers in the U.S. During December, media coverage that included references to better-than-feared holiday retail sales was outweighed by articles referencing mixed or negative economic news including continuing double-digit unemployment and slower economic growth.

"The ESI's significantly slower rate of improvement in December suggests the U.S.'s economic rebound could be starting to level off and that non-farm payrolls neither advanced nor declined by much during the month," Dow Jones Newswires 'Money Talks' columnist Alen Mattich said.

The ESI represents one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching examinations of media coverage as an economic indicator. The ESI's back-testing to 1990 shows that the ESI clearly highlighted the risk that the U.S. economy was sliding into recession in 2001 and 2008 and suggests the indicator can help predict economic turning points as much as seven months in advance of other indicators.

Unlike some other indicators where 50 is a clear break-point between recession and recovery, the ESI needs to be read with reference to longer trends. Based on the ESI's performance since 1990, previous recoveries have been marked by substantial month-to-month gains, with a jump of three points seeming to be a sign of significant improvement. A drop below 50 marks the point at which there is a clear risk of a slowdown.

The Dow Jones Economic Sentiment Indicator is calculated using a proprietary algorithm through Dow Jones Insight, a media tracking and analysis tool. More information about the Economic Sentiment Indicator and its development is available at http://dowjones.com/esi .

Dow Jones Insight uses innovative text mining and analytic technologies to help organizations keep informed about relevant issues, news, conversations and trends emerging in mainstream, Web and social media. Dow Jones Insight's global content collection includes more than 25,000 news and information sources as well as blogs, message boards, and posts from YouTube and Twitter.

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SunLink Health Systems, Inc. to Amend Current Report on Form 8-K

BUSINESS WIRE --SunLink Health Systems, Inc. today (September 17, 2008) announced that it expects the audited financial statements of its Carmichael's Cashway Pharmacy, Inc subsidiary to be restated to adjust the pre-acquisition periods previously reported in SunLink’s Current Report on Form 8-K filed on July 9, 2008.

In connection with the preparation of the company's financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended June 30, 2008, based on information presented by management and discussions with the company’s independent registered public accounting firm, management and the Audit Committee of SunLink determined that Carmichael’s financial statements included in the company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on July 9, 2008 contained errors. As a result, the Audit Committee has concluded that the Carmichael financial statements included in the Current Report on Form 8-K reporting its acquisition of Carmichael should be restated and that investors should not rely upon such financial statements nor should investors rely on the pre-acquisition audited financial statements of Carmichael's for either the 7 Months Ended December 31, 2006, for the Year Ended December 31, 2007, or for the period January 1, 2008 through April 22, 2008, respectively, without taking into account the anticipated and potential adjustments described in this press release.

The errors identified primarily include the amount of customer receivables and relate to, among other things, the pre-acquisition collections, bad debts policies and collection activities of Carmichael's.

The company believes, based on currently available information, that the impact of these errors on Carmichael’s previously disclosed receivables balance as of April 22, 2008 will be to decrease the stated receivables balance on the books of the Carmichael subsidiary as of the acquisition date by at least $1,300,000 resulting from, among other things, increasing the allowance for doubtful accounts and recording certain customer credit adjustments and that such adjustments will also result in an adjustment to SunLink's allocation of the acquisition purchase price.

Based upon information currently available, SunLink believes that the errors with respect to receivables arose, to an extent which can not be presently quantified, in the other prior pre-acquisition audited periods of Carmichael's. However, as of the date of this filing, the company has not completed its investigations. SunLink intends to file restated audited financial statements for Carmichael for the period January 1, 2008 through April 22, 2008, and currently intends to have, to the extent feasible, each of the prior periods which were audited by Carmichael's former auditors and included in the Form 8-K re-audited by SunLink's current independent registered public accounting firm. SunLink currently is unable to determine whether one or more factors will preclude its existing auditors from re-auditing either or both of such periods, or whether if such audits are performed that additional adjustments will be identified.

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