Greenspan Hits 72 In Good Health He Only Seems Heartless When It’s Time To Raise Interest Rates

Alan Greenspan’s 72nd birthday dawned with the Federal Reserve dismissing speculation in world financial markets that its chairman had suffered a heart attack.

Reached at home in the wee hours of the morning, Joe Coyne, the Fed’s chief spokesman, said talk of any health problem was groundless.

No ambulances had been dispatched to Greenspan’s home at the Watergate complex, overlooking the Potomac River, the District of Columbia Fire Department said.

Greenspan’s wife, NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell, knocked down the rumor as well, calling the Don Imus radio program to joke with the show’s irreverent host about her husband’s health.

“Did the markets go up or down?” she wanted to know, telling Imus that her husband was doing fine and making plans for his birthday.

Those plans included a tradition going back several years of having lunch with two other prominent Washingtonians who share the same birth day - Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, R-Mo., and former FBI Director William Webster.

In European trading, the dollar slipped half a pfenning to below 1.83 deutsche marks, while the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond slipped less than one-eighth point, after news research services reported speculation Greenspan had suffered a heart attack.

About two weeks ago, Greenspan was ill with a cold, and on doctor’s advice, missed a meeting of bankers and finance ministers in London.