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 Wed, Jun 10 1992 Date: Wed, 10 Jun 92 05:20:05 EDT Message-ID: 06-10 0000 DECISIONLINE: Personal Investing USA TODAY Update June 10, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network DOW SINKS 34.21: The stock market posted a broad decline Tuesday as worried investors awaited inflation reports later this week. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials fell 34.21 points to 3,369.92. Losers beat winners 1,160 to 580 on the New York Stock Exchange. Investors were cautious ahead of May readings on retail sales and producer prices Thursday. Friday, the May report on consumer prices is out. TRANSPORTATION STOCKS FALL: Comments from American Airlines Chairman Robert Crandall sent transportation stocks lower Tuesday. The Dow Jones transportation average fell 27.84 points to 1360.80. Crandall said fare wars have crimped airline profits. Shares of American's parent AMR sank 1 1:4 to $64 5:8. Delta Air Lines lost 1 5:8 to $58 5:8. And UAL, parent of United Airlines, dipped 1 to $117 7:8. NEWSPAPER STOCKS DOWNGRADED: Salomon Bros. media analyst Edward Atorino, impatient with the pace of recovery in the recession-battered newspaper industry, downgraded three newspaper stocks Tuesday. Atorino shifted his recommendations to hold from buy on Knight-Ridder, Washington Post and Gannett. Knight Ridder fell 2 to $56 1:2; Washington Post class B slipped 3 to $235 1:2; Gannett fell 2 3:8 to $44 5:8. ESTIMATE ON TRIBUNE CUT: Tribune shares fell 1 5:8 to $40 5:8 Tuesday after Smith Barney media analyst John Reidy cut his 1992 earnings estimate for Tribune to $2.05 a share from $2.25. Reidy still rates Tribune a buy, based on expectations that it will sell its unprofitable newsprint operation. AUTOZONE SHARES SPUTTERING: Investors sent shares of auto-parts retailer AutoZone down 2 to $28 7:8 Monday on reports that Goldman Sachs analyst David Bolotsky told his company's brokers the stock may weaken this quarter. Bolotsky was not available for comment but traders say he's keeping his per-share quarterly estimate at 34 cents, vs. 29 cents last year and thinks the recent weakness is a buying opportunity. ACQUISITION BOOSTS WHOLESALERS: Shares of food wholesalers SuperValu and Wetterau advanced Tuesday after SupperValu said it will buy Wetterau in a $1.1 billion deal. Wetterau shares 6 3:8 to $30 3:8 in heavy trading, while SuperValu shares inched up 1:8 to $25 1:2. SuperValu, No. 2 in its industry, will assume debt of about $440 million and pay $643 million, or $30.20 a share, in cash for No. 3 Wetterau. SHAREHOLDERS TO BENEFIT: Minneapolis-based SuperValu's acquisition of St. Louis-based Wetterau will create the USA's largest food wholesaler. Analysts say that SuperValu and Wetterau shareholders both win in the merger. For Wetterau shareholders, "SuperValu is paying a very fair price," says Arthur Lichtendorf of Tucker Anthony. The benefits for SuperValu shareholders are longer range. BRIGHT FORECAST FOR PROFITS: U.S. companies could see pretax profits jump 16.5% this year and 13.3% next year, a survey of top economists said Tuesday. Last year, corporate profits fell 3.8% after falling 9.3% in 1990. Blue Chip Economic Indicators surveys 50 top economists each month. The consensus of the economists was that the gross domestic product will grow 2.1% this year and inflation will rise 3.2%. FEWER SHAREHOLDER GRIPES HEARD: John Wilcox, chairman of Georgeson & Co., a leading investor-relations firm, says boards of directors will rein in greedy chief executives more interested in pay than performance - next year, maybe. Each year, Georgeson tallies the results of shareholder activism at annual meetings and analyzes the trends. This year there were 54 shareholder resolutions, compared with 101 last year. EXEC PAY PROPOSALS SEEN: The future holds lots more outcry over CEO pay, thanks to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which this year for the first time allowed shareholders to submit proposals on the topic for shareholder votes. The SEC "opened Pandora's box," says John Wilcox, chairman of Georgeson & Co., and next annual-meeting season will be flooded with proposals on executive pay. GOLD MIXED, SILVER UNCHANGED: Gold was narrowly mixed, and silver prices were unchanged Tuesday. On the Commodity Exchange, gold bullion for current delivery settled at $338.30 a troy ounce, up 10 cents. Republic National Bank said gold slipped 10 cents to $337.80. On the Comex, silver bullion for current delivery settled at $4.041 a troy ounce, unchanged. In London the metal also was unchanged at $4.05. DOW JONES OPENS ON DOWNSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Wednesday at 3369.92 after closing down 34.21 Tuesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 225.95, down 1.76. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 393.06, down 3.37. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 573.80, down 8.21. DOLLAR OPENS UP OVERSEAS: The dollar opens up on Wednesday. It opens at 0.5459 British pounds, up from 0.5452; 5.3600 French francs, up from 5.3500; 1.5925 German marks, up from 1.5855; and 127.57 Japanese yen, up from 127.11. (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. 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