  Based on the SO(2)-invariant slave-boson scheme, the static charge, orbital,
and excitonic susceptibilities in the extended Falicov-Kimball model are
calculated. Analyzing the phase without long-range order we find instabilities
towards charge order, orbital order, and the excitonic insulator (EI) phase.
The instability towards the EI is in agreement with the saddle-point phase
diagram. We also evaluate the dynamic excitonic susceptibility, which allows
the investigation of uncondensed excitons. We find qualitatively different
features of the exciton dispersion at the semimetal-EI and at the
semiconductor-EI transition supporting a crossover scenario between a BCS-type
electron-hole condensation and a Bose-Einstein condensation of preformed bound
electron-hole pairs.
