Financial Printing Outlook -- Clawing Their Way Back

"This 'annual decrease' masks a much lower level of demand in the second half of the year," Masterton remarks. "Instead of the expected recovery, the second half was even worse than the first half, with overall SEC filings down 42 percent from the third quarter of 2001."

Drop in Spending

The investor communications needs of diversified financial services companies have also felt the impact of the depressed economy and the falling stock market, he notes.