The benchmark rate was trimmed to 32 percent from 34 percent.

But by the end of the first quarter that gain had been trimmed to just 1.2 percent.

It trimmed the loss in Taiwan to 3.4 percent.

The outlook for 2004 has also been trimmed to 3 percent from 3.5 percent.

That move was quickly followed by the nation's largest commercial banks, which trimmed the prime rate to 6 percent from 6.5 percent.

In the last month, most private economists have trimmed their forecasts for European growth to 2.5 percent from about 3 percent.

The government also revised downward its figures for 2004, trimming growth to 4.9 percent from 5.2 percent.

A regional Midwestern bank had trimmed its key rate to 10 1/2 percent on Friday.

Profit margins have been trimmed by a percentage point or so, to about 11 percent, on the average production contract.

When adjusted into dollars, the loss was trimmed to 26.10 percent.