Standard & Poor's was also down, ending the trading sessionwith a loss of 9.14 points. Concern about increased heating coststhis winter have some fearing rents will rise as owners pass offcosts to tenants. Wholesale inflation was up last month, in partbecause of the rise of the cost of gas, by 0.4%. The producer priceindex was also up 0.4% last month. Energy prices rose last month1.4%.

As Priceline.com, among other dotcoms, continues to struggle,and e-businesses like Pets.com join Urbanfetch.com on the landscapeof defunct companies, the predictions of the majority of panelistsin the real estate industry who spoke at the PACT conference lastMonday (covered here) have increasing weight. Speakers such as JoeFitzpatrick of Project Octane noted, "a shakeout is eminent."

Many are predicting that skyrocketing rent, such as the morethan $750 per sf Jil Sander will fork over for an East 57th St.retail address, as covered here, can't hold. Richard Hurd of GECapital tells GlobeSt.com, "Is the market too hot? Yes." He adds,however, that neither he nor his company believes we are headingtoward a recession. While some argue that there are enoughfinancial capital companies looking for space that a dotcomshakeout would not impact the leasing world, others say thecorrection will get more vicious.