Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.invest From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: invest Thu, Jul 23 1992 Date: Thu, 23 Jul 92 04:33:09 EDT Message-ID: 07-23 0000 DECISIONLINE: Personal Investing USA TODAY Update July 23, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network EQUITABLE LIFE TO OFFER STOCK: Equitable Life Assurance Society's stock deal was concluded Wednesday. One of the largest mutual insurers to convert to public ownership, Equitable made the move after more than 92% of its policyholders voted to let the insurance company sell stock to the public. The company needed fresh capital to pay policyholders after bad deals in real estate and junk bonds. COMPANY NOW OPEN TO ALL: Equitable Life Assurance Society's deal, concluded Wednesday, means that the company now is open to all investors through publicly traded shares. As a mutual company Equitable, owned by policyholders, was run to benefit only them. Now it must answer to shareholders. Equitable issued 50 million shares at $9 each. The stock, trading five days, closed at $9 1:4, down 1:4. ANHEUSER-BUSCH TAKES A BATH: Despite a 10% jump in second-quarter earnings, Wall Street hammered Anheuser-Busch stock Wednesday, sending it down 3 1:4 to close at $53. The USA's largest brewer posted net income of $317 million, or $1.09 a share, vs. $287 million, or 99 cents, last year. Revenue climbed 3.7%. Anheuser-Busch says it is increasingly difficult to boost market share. HOME DEPOT JUST KEEPS GOING: Home Depot, a do-it-yourself hardware store deluxe, took in $5.1 billion last year from 174 stores in 15 states. The stock of the company that's been likened to Wal-Mart is on most retail analysts' lists of stock to buy, and many say the big money is yet to be made. Since The Home Depot first sold stock to the public in 1981, its stock has split 11 times. STOCK HAS SPLIT 11 TIMES: Home Depot, whose stock has split 11 times since its first offering in 1981, was one of the most successful offerings of the 1980s. A thousand shares purchased for $12,000 in 1981 would be worth more than $2.4 million today. The stock flattened this year along with other growth stocks, but analyst Bo Cheadle says it's still a good long-term buy and could triple in the next five years. COMPAQ REPORT SHOWS INCOME UP: After ousting its founding president last year and trying to reposition itself as a low-cost PC maker, Compaq's latest earnings report signals that the changes have helped. Net income jumped 43% the second quarter from a year earlier. Eckhard Pfeiffer, Compaq's new president, says demand for its new low-cost PCs is intense. Compaq shares jumped 3 1:8 to close at $27 3:4 Wednesday. FOREIGN MARKETS SEND DOW DOWN: Stocks sank Wednesday after major foreign markets slumped. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 30.80 points to 3277.61. Broader indexes also fell. Losers beat winners 1,092 to 643 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume was heavy at 192 million shares. Stocks fell at the open and crept lower all day. Losses abroad unnerved investors. AMGEN, UPJOHN MOVE UP: Biotechnology stocks had a good day Wednesday. Amgen advanced 3 to close at $65 Wednesday after the company reported second-quarter earnings Tuesday at 49 cents a share. Several brokerages repeated buy ratings on the stock. Upjohn added 1 7:8 to close at $34 1:4 after reporting progress on a compound considerably more potent than other drugs in blocking growth of HIV. INTEREST HAS ROOM TO DIVE: Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan Wednesday said that long-term interest rates "have a good long way to go down," if investors can be convinced that inflation isn't headed higher. Greenspan also said Fed policymakers agree they should lower their targets for growth on the amount of money in circulation - that is, bring inflation (3%) down even lower. CD YIELDS DIVE: Bank certificate of deposit yields dropped sharply this week, according to Bank Rate Monitor. Average yields for six-month CDs were 3.38% vs. 3.44%. For one-year CDs, rates were 3.73% vs. 3.79%. For two-and-a-half-year CDs, rates were 4.53% vs. 4.61%; for five-year, 5.78% vs. 5.84%. GOLD, SILVER RISE: Gold and silver prices rose Wednesday. Gold rose to $358.90, up $1.30. Republic National Bank quoted gold at $357.50, up $1.50. Gold rose in London to $359.38, from $357.85. In Hong Kong, financial institutions were closed because of a tropical storm. Silver bullion rose in London to $3.97 from $3.95; in New York, silver closed at $3.969, up from $3.937. DOW JONES OPENS ON DOWNSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Thursday at 3277.61 after closing down 30.80 points Wednesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 226.13, down 1.34. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 383.17, down 1.65. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 563.88, down 4.75. DOLLAR OPENS MIXED OVERSEAS: The dollar opens mixed on Thursday. It opens at 0.5254 British pounds, up from 0.5231; 5.0180 French francs, down from 5.0190; 1.4867 German marks, up from 1.4852; and 126.70 Japanese yen, up from 125.20. (As of 3 p.m. Wednesday. Source: First American Bank of New York.) 24-HOUR TELEPHONE INFORMATION: USA TODAY Money Hot Line. 95 cents a minute. 1-900-555-5555. Personal Investing editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution purposes violates federal law. 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