Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.misc From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Headline Article Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 15:30:30 EST Message-ID: \SE C;MONEY;BUSINESS ROUNDUP \BY FROM WIRE DISPATCHES AND STAFF REPORTS S=NEW STORY NASDAQ boosted by newcomer NEW YORK - Blue chip stocks, weighed down by losses in IBM and General Motors, posted small gains yesterday, but the broader market extended its strong advance. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 2.16 points to end at 3,209.53. In the broad market, advancing issues led decliners 953 to 798 on New York Stock Exchange volume of 219 million shares. NASDAQ rose 3.73 points to close at 638.59, buoyed by technology stock gains, including a stellar debut in new software issue Peoplesoft Inc. Initially priced at $17 a share, Peoplesoft ended at $28.83 on turnover of more than 4.7 million shares. S&P 500 rose 0.76 to 423.61. Amex rose 2.85 to 389.34. S=NEW STORY Sony profits sink 60% TOKYO - Sony Corp. said yesterday it suffered a 60 percent drop in profits in the six months to Sept. 30 and that the rest of the year looks bleak. "Consumer purse strings are clenched tight," said Tsunao Hashimoto of Sony. The consumer electronics giant's first-half net profit fell to $145 million from $366 million the previous year. Sales rose 4.8 percent to $15.4 billion. S=NEW STORY Whopper of a labor case settled Burger King Corp., the nation's second-largest fast-food chain, said yesterday it agreed to settle the government's biggest child-labor law case by paying a $500,000 fine and setting up a system to prevent further violations. Burger King was accused of violations at many of its 900 company-owned restaurants in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Miami and San Francisco where teen-agers were asked to work more hours or later hours than allowed. The proposed settlement calls for the Miami-based company, a unit of London-based Grand Metropolitan PLC, to have an independent ombudsman monitor its 5,700 restaurants and set up a toll-free hot line number for reporting violations. S=NEW STORY 5 Northwest unions in pact MINNEAPOLIS - Five Northwest Airlines labor unions yesterday announced a tentative agreement for $300 million a year in financial concessions to the struggling airline for the next three years. "Each union will contribute its fair share as part of a universal solution involving all of Northwest's stakeholders," the unions said. S=NEW STORY Analyst sparks Signet surge Shares of Richmond's Signet Banking Corp. hit a 52-week high in active trading yesterday after Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette analyst Thomas Brown raised his earnings estimate for the bank through the end of 1993. Mr. Brown said higher profit margins, decreasing bad loans and the prospect of a buyout by a larger rival all make Signet stock a bargain. Signet closed at $42.13, up $1.88 on the New York Stock Exchange. S=NEW STORY Euro Disney sees dismal returns MARNE-LA-VALLEE, France - Euro Disneyland, beset by low crowds and French hostility, yesterday posted a loss of nearly $36 million in its first fiscal year and said it is unlikely to show a profit next year. The park may reduce the $42 entry fee for school, corporate and senior citizen groups during the winter, Euro Disney President Philippe Bourguignon said. The entry fee is high by European standards. S=NEW STORY Delta pilots escape furlough ATLANTA - Delta Air Lines and the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents Delta's 9,400 pilots, announced yesterday that Delta was rescinding its Dec. 1 furlough of pilots. S=NEW STORY He's back, and he's not lying NEW YORK - Jerry Della Femina, the outspoken adman who invented the lying car salesman called Joe Isuzu, didn't stay away from the ad business for long. He resigned earlier this year in a dispute with the new owners of the ad agency he founded 25 years ago, but yesterday he said he's forming a new agency called Jerry Inc., and its first client is Newsweek magazine. S=NEW STORY Measures of money supply rise NEW YORK - The three measures of the nation's money supply rose in the week ended Nov. 9, the Federal Reserve Board reported yesterday. The measure known as M2 rose to $3,515.0 billion from a revised $3,508.4 billion the previous week. A broader measure, M3, rose to $4,192.9 billion from a revised $4,190.8 billion. The narrowest measure, M1, rose to $1,018.8 billion from $1,016.9 billion. M1 is cash in circulation. M2 is M1 plus accounts such as savings deposits. M3 is M2 plus less-liquid accounts. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM