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 Wed, Apr 1 1992 Date: Wed, 1 Apr 92 05:43:26 EST Message-ID: 04-01 0000 DECISIONLINE: Personal Investing USA TODAY Update April 1, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network STOCKS BARELY ADVANCE: Stocks barely managed to stay in the plus column Tuesday, despite good news on the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.23 points to 3235.47. Broader indexes finished higher but well below their session highs. The Conference Board said consumer confidence rose in February. And the government said leading indicators rose 0.8% in February from the previous month. WOOD, PAPER STOCKS SEEN RISING: Knock on wood. High lumber prices are promising a pickup in earnings for wood and paper company stocks, analysts say. For the first time since 1986, stocks in the battered forest and paper products group are expected to outperform the broader market. Since Dec. 31, many stocks in the industry group have soared while the Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 3.2%. NEARLY ALL TO RECOVER: Twelve of 20 companies in the wood and paper group will report a loss the first quarter, says Matthew Berler, analyst at Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette Securities. But nearly all companies will be in the black the third and fourth quarters, Berler says. He likes Willamette, Temple-Inland and Union Camp. Analyst Sherman Chao of Salomon Bros. recommends Georgia Pacific and Louisiana-Pacific. EUROPEAN PARK TO BE A HIT: Disney shares added 1 to $151 5:8 Tuesday on growing optimism that its European theme park will pay benefits almost immediately after it opens April 12. In a new report, Salomon Bros. analyst Margo Vignola repeated a buy recommendation on Disney. She estimates Euro Disneyland in France should add 27 cents to Disney's earnings per share for fiscal 1992, ending Sept. 30. MOVIE STOCKS MOVE: A big night at the Academy Awards didn't do a thing for shares of Orion Pictures, whose chiller "The Silence of the Lambs" won five Oscars. Stock of Orion, which also produced last year's Oscar-winning "Dances with Wolves," closed unchanged Tuesday at $2 5:8. New Line Cinema, which is in talks to purchase the bankrupt Orion, saw its shares rose 1:2 to $14 1:4. USAIR MAKING PAY CUTS: USAir Group, which has lost $760 million the past two years and is seeking deep concessions from its unions, disclosed in its 1992 proxy statement that it is cutting directors' retainers 20% to $14,400 this year. The proxy also shows CEO Seth Schofield was paid $502,809 in 1991, including $35,982 in deferred pay from 1979. USAir closed Tuesday at $17 5:8, up 1:8. IPOS IN A FRENZY: Initial public offerings of stock hit a record the first quarter, passing the all-time high set the fourth quarter. IPOs raised nearly $11 billion in the USA the first three months this year, eclipsing the $10.2 billion raised in 1991s fourth quarter, Securities Data Corp. says. IPO's raised just $2.7 billion the first quarter last year. ICI TRYING TO MAKE CHANGE: The Investment Company Institute is trying to change a practice that limits who receives a mutual fund's prospectus. While individuals who invest in a fund are given the document, those who buy a fund through an employer's 401(k) retirement plan don't. The ICI has urged the Labor Department to require employers to give 401(k) plan participants a document similar to a prospectus. JACOBS HAS A NEW BOOK OUT: Sheldon Jacobs, author of "The Handbook for No-Load Fund Investors," has published a new book, "How to Pick the Best No-Load Mutual Funds for Solid Growth and Safety." Jacobs' new book is published by Business One Irwin and is available in most bookstores for $13. The latest annual edition of the Handbook is due in May. Cost: $45. Call 1-800-252-2042. GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM UP: Precious metals were up Tuesday. Platinum for April delivery climbed $5.90 to $357 a troy ounce, its highest price in two weeks. On the Commodity Exchange, April gold rose $1.80 to $343.70 a troy ounce; a late bid at New York Republic National Bank quoted the metal at $343.20 an ounce, up $1.60. May silver edged up 0.3 cent to $4.143 a troy ounce. DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Wednesday at 3235.47, after closing up 0.23 Tuesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 223.25, up 0.26. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 395.04, up 1.43. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 603.77, up 1.70. DOLLAR OPENS MIXED OVERSEAS: The dollar opens mixed on foreign markets Wednesday. It opens at 0.5759 British pounds, unchanged; 5.5765 French francs, down from 5.5920; 132.85 Japanese yen, up from 132.68; and 1.6436 German marks, down from 1.6455. (As of 3 p.m. Tuesday. 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