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 Fri, Jun 26 1992 Date: Fri, 26 Jun 92 05:19:54 EDT Message-ID: 06-26 0000 DECISIONLINE: Personal Investing USA TODAY Update June 26-28, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network SHAREHOLDERS WANT QUICK RETURN: A study outlining why German and Japanese economies outshine the USA's points to shareholder impatience. U.S. shareholders want a quick return on investments, and business executives are driven by the same mentality, according to a study compiled by the privately funded Council on Competitiveness and the Harvard Business School. STOCK HELD JUST TWO YEARS: A study by the Council on Competitiveness and Harvard Business School shows that stock in U.S. companies is held an average of two years, down from seven years in the 1960s. In Japan and Germany, the average is seven years. Privately owned or family-controlled companies such as Motorola tend to prosper because they can afford to think long-term, since they aren't beholden to shareholders. IVF IPO IS PIONEER IN FIELD: The first chain of fertility clinics to sell stock to the public has some investment managers pregnant with anticipation. The July initial public offering planned by IVF America is Wall Street's first piece of some promising action. "Fertility clinics hook into a very powerful demographic trend," says Jim McCamant of Medical Technology Stock Letter. "People are getting married older." EARNINGS NEWS DROPS LOTUS STOCK: Lotus Development stock dropped almost 25% Thursday after the company said its earnings will fall short of analysts' expectations this quarter and for the year. That's the second time this month Lotus has sounded the alarm on earnings. Lotus pegged second-quarter earnings at 30 to 40 cents a share. Lotus dropped 5 5:8 to $18 3:8 and was the most actively traded NASDAQ stock. BP CEO QUITS; STOCK DROPS: The chief executive of British Petroleum PLC quit Thursday. BP American depository receipts traded in the USA dropped 6 to $48 3:8 on the news. Robert Horton's resignation was prompted by BP's non-executive directors, analysts said. Some think the move could foreshadow a dividend cut by BP, whose earnings have been falling. Texaco fell 1 1:2 to $61 1:2; Amerada Hess fell 1 to $45 3:4. BAD NEWS UNNERVES INVESTORS: Stocks dipped Thursday as bad earnings reports shook investors' confidence. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 6.69 points to 3284.01. Broader indexes also were down. Gainers beat losers 861 to 815 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume was 183 million shares. The market opened higher but slipped after lunch. Investors were unnerved by a few surprisingly bad earnings reports. M2 DROPS $2.6 BILLION: A closely-watched measure of the USA's money supply dropped $2.6 billion to $3.5 trillion the week of June 15, the Federal Reserve says. So far this year, M2 has grown at an annual rate of 1.8%, below the Fed's target range of 2.5% to 6.5%. Economists consider lack of growth of the money supply a bad sign for the economy. M2 is cash, checking accounts and money market mutual funds. SECURITIES CHARGES SETTLED: Citibank Thursday, without admitting or denying guilt, settled government charges relating to worthless securities. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had charged the bank with allowing the securities to fall into the hands of people who sold them around the world in scam operations. No charges were filed and Citibank agreed to keep tighter control of the securities. KKR TO INVEST IN TW HOLDINGS: New York investment partnership Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is entering the food and restaurant business. As part of a deal announced Thursday, KKR will invest $300 million in Spartanburg, S.C.-based TW Holdings. TW stock finished up 5:16 at $3 3:8. KKR will buy 100 million newly issued shares of TW Holdings for $3 each for a 47% stake. TW also will sell preferred stock to the public. SOFT-DRINK MAKER GOES PUBLIC: Dr Pepper-Seven Up is set to sell stock to the public for the first time Friday. The No. 3 soft-drink maker will offer about 30 million shares of common stock priced at $20 to $23 a share, raising about $600 million. GOLD, SILVER BOTH RISE: Fold and silver prices rose Thursday. Gold bullion for current delivery was $343.20 per troy ounce, up 40 cents. Republic National Bank quoted the metal at $342.80, up 15 cents. Gold rose in London to $343.55 from $342.30. Silver bullion rose in London to $4.04, up from $4.03. On the Commodity Exchange, silver finished at $4.002, down from $4.021. DOW JONES OPENS ON DOWNSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Friday at 3284.01 after closing down 6.69 Thursday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 221.53, down 0.28. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 374.15, down 0.05. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 548.20, down 3.19. DOLLAR OPENS DOWN OVERSEAS: The dollar opens down on Friday. It opens at 0.5284 British pounds, down from 0.5319; 5.8120 French francs, down from 5.2175; 1.5395 German marks, down from 1.5495; and 125.26 Japanese yen, down from 126.46. (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: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 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