Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.invest From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: invest Fri, Mar 13 1992 Date: Fri, 13 Mar 92 05:47:47 EST Message-ID: 03-13 0000 DECISIONLINE: Personal Investing USA TODAY Update March 13-15, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network STOCKS UNCHANGED: The stock market, battered all week by rising interest rates, was little changed Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average finished exactly where it began, at 3208.63. Small stocks dipped. Decliners overwhelmed advancers 1,016 to 629 on the New York Stock Exchange - the fifth time in the past seven trading sessions that more than 1,000 issues fell. T-BOND RATES CRACK 8%: Inflation fears sparked by a report that retail sales rose 1.3% last month sent Treasury bond yields through the 8% barrier Thursday for the first time since November. Yields on 30-year Treasury bonds rose to 8.04% from 7.95% Wednesday. That means mortgage rates should head higher, too. But many economists doubt long-term interest rates will stay very high for very long. YIELDS EXPECTED TO FALL BACK: The yield on 30-year T-bonds hasn't hit 8% since Nov. 6 and hasn't spent much time at that level since August. It was as low as 7.39% in January. Most economists say the bond market is overreacting. Richard Peach, economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association, says 30-year Treasury yields will be back to 7.75% by midyear and no higher than 8% at year's end. SILICON GRAPHICS BUYING MIPS: Investors reacted negatively Thursday to Silicon Graphics' takeover of MIPS Computer Systems. Silicon Graphics shares dropped 4 3:4 to $21 7:8. MIPS shares closed up 2 1:2 at $13 1:2. Under the $329 million deal, Silicon is giving MIPS stockholders 0.61 share of Silicon stock for each share of MIPS. Analysts say the merger could create a giant with annual revenue approaching $1 billion. SALES REPORT FUELS OPTIMISM: Retail sales rose almost across the board in February, prompting optimism that an economic recovery may be under way. "The consumer has started to spend again - a harbinger of economic recovery," says J. Antonio Villamil, The Commerce Department's chief economist. Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady calls the report another positive sign "the economy has started to grow again." SALES HURT DAYTON HUDSON: Christmas price-slashing battered Dayton Hudson's 1991 profits. Thursday, the company reported that net income for its fourth quarter, which ended Feb. 1, fell 18% to $192 million, or $2.47 a share, from $235 million, or $3.05 a share, a year ago. For the year, net income dropped 27% to $301 million from $412 million in 1990. The stock fell 5 5:8 to $61 1:4 Thursday. IPOS SIGNAL OVERVALUATION: Two more companies signed up to sell initial shares to the public - Zam's, a tiny party-goods retailer; and Franklin Mint, which sells offbeat collectibles. Some analysts say it's another sign that the stock market is overvalued. Zam's plans to offer 870,000 shares at $5 each. Franklin Mint will offer 11 million shares at $15 to $17 each. JUDGE APPROVES MILKEN SUIT: U.S. Judge Milton Pollack has preliminarily approved the settlement of a worldwide class-action suit that sets aside $50 million for those who have as yet not asserted claims in the case against Michael Milken and Drexel Burnham Lambert. The class-action settlement will afford relief to people and businesses that have lost money but would not be in a position to bring their own cases. OVERSEAS MARKETS DOWN: Stocks remained weak Thursday on foreign exchanges. Worries about next month's general elections continued to pull London stocks down. Frankfurt shares fell on doubts that interest rates would fall soon. A weak yen and uncertainty ahead of Friday's settlements of futures contracts left Tokyo stocks weaker. GOLD, SILVER PRICES FALL: The price of gold fell to $347.40 a troy ounce on the Commodity Exchange in New York Thursday, down $3.30 from a day earlier, after falling in world markets. Republic National Bank later quoted a bid of $347.10, off $2.85. Analysts attributed the selling to profit-taking by investors with large holdings of gold. Silver fell 6.1 cents on the Commodity Exchange to $4.086 a troy ounce. DOW JONES OPENS UNCHANGED: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Friday at 3208.63, after closing unchanged Thursday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 223.30, down 0.25. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 403.59, down 2.26. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 615.92, down 1.22. DOLLAR OPENS MOSTLY UP: The dollar opens mixed on foreign markets Friday. It opens at 0.5833 British pounds, up from 0.5809; 5.6395 French francs, down from 5.6740; 134.07 Japanese yen, up from 133.78; and 1.6695 German marks, up from 1.6662. (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. Personal Investing Editor: William Snoddy. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution 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