Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.invest,americast.usa-today.invest From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: invest Tue, Sep 22 1992 Date: Tue, 22 Sep 92 04:55:02 EDT Message-ID: 09-22 0000 DECISIONLINE: Personal Investing USA TODAY Update Sept. 22, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network FIRST UNION BUYS DOMINION: First Union said Monday it has agreed to buy Dominion Bankshares for $830 million - making Charlotte, N.C.-based First Union one of the nation's 10 biggest banks. Despite misgivings about the price, most analysts call First Union a good long-term investment. After record earnings last quarter, it will set another record: at $1.05 a share this quarter vs. the 88 cents Wall Street expected. LIST OF TARGETS RELEASED: Open season on corporations begins Tuesday as the United Shareholders Association releases its list of 29 companies targeted for shareholder proposals during the 1993 annual meeting season. The tactic appears to be a winning one: Average support this year for shareholder resolutions proposed by U.S. members was 40%, compared with 17% in 1990, the first year of the Target 50 list. MAGAZINE LISTS SOME TOP EXECS: African Americans are moving into the ranks of the USA's top financial executives. Black Enterprise magazine profiles 25 of them in its October issue, on newsstands Tuesday. Among them: Bernard Beal, founder of a New York investment bank; Cornelius "Perk" Thornton, a research analyst who has been on Institutional Investor magazine's list of outstanding for 14 years in a row. CURRENCY CRISIS STILL BAFFLES: Stocks slipped Monday as the narrow french vote for European unity failed to cheer investors. Investors are still guessing how European countries might use interest rates to address different economic goals: Germany wants to fight inflation and almost everybody else wants to spur economic growth. Nevertheless, many analysts say not to worry, that U.S. stocks should stand up well. ANALYST VENTS OPTIMISM: Jack Solomon, technical analyst at Bear Stearns, said Monday he believes recent European currency fluctuations shouldn't hurt the U.S. stock market. "I think there's an overall general feeling that everything is going to be OK, but we don't know how or when or why," says Solomon. Nevertheless, Solomon is looking for new highs before the election: A Dow of 3450 or 3500. Many others agree. SUMMER RALLY DIDN'T COME: Sometime next May or June, somebody somewhere will advise investors about the coming summer rally - that annual burst of optimism that at some point between Memorial Day and the end of summer drives stocks considerably higher. Investors should be wary and remember the past: Autumn begins Tuesday. There was no summer rally. Most didn't do well owning stocks over the summer. WEILL FISHES FOR TRAVELERS: Travelers stock has been slipping for five years. Its main business, property:casualty insurance, remains ensnared in an unusually long down cycle. The well-known bottom fisher Sandy Weill of financial-services giant Primerica agreed to buy 27% of Travelers for $19 a share, or $722 million. Analysts note that Weill has a feel for these buys and there isn't a lot of risk. BRITISH STOCKS SHOULD RALLY: Investors should expect a short-term rally in British stocks as the market cheers the outlook for lower interest rates because of the devalued pound, according to Morgan Stanley. In a new report on the impact of Europe's currency crisis, Morgan also says the long-term outlook for British stocks goes "from bad to worse. Market memories of devaluations are long." FIRM LIKES HIGH-TECH STOCKS: Brokerage firm Merrill Lynch is bullish on high-tech stocks. In a recent report, Lynch says that the slow-growth economy will help companies developing technology that lets other companies cut expenses. Some of its picks: Intel, Microsoft, Motorola and SunGuard Data. GOLD, SILVER LOWER: Gold prices settled mostly lower Monday. On the New York Commodity Exchange, gold bullion for current delivery settled at $347.50 a troy ounce, down $3.70 from Friday. Republic National Bank said gold fell $3.50 an ounce to $347.50. On New York's Comex, silver bullion settled at $3.807 a troy ounce, down from $3.847 on Friday. In London the metal slipped to $3.81 an ounce from $3.82. DOW JONES OPENS ON DOWNSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens at 3320.83 Tuesday after closing down 6.22 Monday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 231.89, down 0.50. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 382.72, down 2.78. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 588.58, down 0.54. DOLLAR OPENS MIXED OVERSEAS: The dollar opens mostly down on Tuesday. It opens at 0.585 British pounds, up from 0.575; 5.076 French francs, down from 5.129; 1.484 German marks, down from 1.498; and 123.6 Japanese yen, down from 124.6. (As of 3 p.m. Monday. 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: Martin Baucom. (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