Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.banks,americast.usa-today.banks From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: banks Fri, Nov 6 1992 Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 05:29:35 EST Message-ID: 11-06 0000 DECISIONLINE: Banking & Economy USA TODAY Update Nov. 6-8, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network USA CLOSE TO TRADE WAR: The USA edged toward a trade war with Europe Thursday. U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills announced plans to impose tariffs that would triple prices of white wines and other products from the European Community next month. The EC is threatening to retaliate with sanctions on U.S. goods. That raises fears the dispute will ruin efforts to expand the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. TREASURY UNDERSECRETARY RESIGNS: Treasury Undersecretary David Mulford will resign Monday to become vice chairman of First Boston Corp., the Treasury announced Thursday. Mulford becomes the first high-level Treasury official to leave the department since the election of Bill Clinton to the Presidency Tuesday. Mulford was in charge of international affairs. He will advise foreign countries and agencies for the bank. FIRST-TIME JOBLESS CLAIMS FALL: Signaling a brighter employment outlook, first-time claims for state jobless benefits fell 16,000 to 360,000 for the week ended Oct. 24, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's the lowest level since the week ended Aug. 4, 1990, when 354,000 claims were filed and the recession was a month old. It's one of the few signs of a recovering economy, says researcher Laurence Meyer. CLAIMS REMAIN BELOW BENCHMARK: First-time jobless claims fell again, the Labor Department said Thursday. For five weeks, jobless claims have been below the 400,000 mark, the rule-of-thumb dividing line between recovery and recession. "We're heading in the right direction, but we still haven't gone far enough," says Doug Handler, economist at Dun & Bradstreet Corp., a New York research firm. BOESKY TO PAY $50 MILLION: Ivan Boesky Thursday agreed to pay $50 million to settle an inside-trading lawsuit filed by Maxus Energy, formerly Diamond Shamrock. Boesky was the only remaining defendant in the case. Kidder Peabody settled last month by agreeing to pay Maxus $125 million in cash and $40 million in stock warrants. BOESKY WAS LAST DEFENDANT: Ivan Boesky was the last remaining defendant in an inside-trading suit filed by Maxus Energy against Kidder Peabody. He agreed to pay $50 million Thursday. Last month, former Kidder investment banker Martin Siegel was dropped as a defendant when he agreed to testify against Boesky. Maxus filed suit in 1987, seeking $2.2 billion. MACY OUTLINES FIVE-YEAR PLAN: R.H. Macy & Co. Thursday detailed a five-year plan it hopes will return the bankrupt retailer to profitable growth. Macy has projected sales for the next five years and estimates that it will improve cash flow by $600 million in fiscal 1998. Cash flow for 1998 is expected to total $811 million, about 9% of sales. Without the new measures, that figure would be closer to $213 million. SMALL STOCKS COME BACK: After a blistering 17-month run, small stocks fell out of favor in February and stayed in the dumps through June. But it may be time for investors to reconsider. A popular small-stock barometer, T. Rowe Price's New Horizons Fund, is up 16% since June 26. The Standard & Poor's 500 is up 4% the same period. Analyst Brian Berghuis says a long small-stock up cycle is firmly in place. LONG-TERM BOND YIELD UP: The yield on 30-year Treasury bonds rose to 7.69% from 7.67% Thursday. The discount rate on three-month Treasury bills was unchanged at 3%. Light sweet crude oil rose 31 cents to $20.64 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Algeria's oil minister said Thursday he wants a key OPEC meeting moved up. He's concerned about imposing limits for some member countries. GOLD MIXED, SILVER UP: December gold on the New York Comex fell 90 cents to $336.80 an ounce. Gold rose in London to $339.00 a troy ounce Thursday from $337.80 Wednesday. On New York's Comex, silver bullion for current delivery settled at $3.926 a troy ounce, up from $3.837 on Wednesday. Silver bullion rose in London to a late bid of $3.95 a troy ounce, up from $3.85 bid Wednesday. DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens at 3243.84 Friday after closing up 20.80 Thursday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 230.37, up 0.58. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 382.69, up 0.75. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 614.08, up 8.56. DOLLAR OPENS MIXED OVERSEAS: The dollar opens mixed on Friday. It opens at 0.6504 British pounds, unchanged; 5.3510 French francs, up from 5.3275; 1.5815 German marks, up from 1.5747; and 122.68 Japanese yen, down from 123.05. (As of 3 p.m. Thursday. Source: First American Bank of New York.) 24-HOUR TELEPHONE INFORMATION: USA TODAY Money Hot Line. 95 cents a minute. 1-900-555-5555. Banking & Economy Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution purposes violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM