Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!tamsun.tamu.edu!mtecv2!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Newsgroups: usa-today.invest,americast.usa-today.invest Subject: invest Fri, Aug 28 1992 Message-ID: Date: 28 Aug 92 08:57:03 GMT Organization: American Cybercasting Lines: 108 Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com 08-28 0000 DECISIONLINE: Personal Investing USA TODAY Update Aug. 28-30, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network EUROPEAN STOCKS MAY FALL: Mutual-fund managers and advisers say that chances are good that European stocks will follow the form of Japanese stocks, which have just recently jumped to life after a 2 1:2-year slide. After a promising start this year, some key European stock markets are trading well below their highs for the year. MAASTRICHT MAKES MARKETS SHAKY: Fears that a proposed economic unification will unravel have cast a deepening pall over European stock markets the past two months. The European business community is focused on France's Maastricht Treaty referendum next month. That treaty - already rejected by Denmark in June - would approve a single European currency and pave the way for European unification. MUTUALS STILL GOING STRONG: Mutual fund investors don't seem to know when to take a vacation. In July - normally not the industry's hottest month because more people pay attention to their tans than their portfolios - the inflow into bond funds nearly set a record, the Investment Company Institute said Thursday. Stock-fund purchases were the best since tax season. August's pace is almost as strong. INVESTORS POUNCE ON BOND FUNDS: Investors poured $11.8 billion into bond funds last month, up from $9 billion in June and the second-highest month ever. They pumped $6.8 billion into stock mutual funds, up from $4.7 billion in June. The record: January 1987, $12.8 billion. Corporate-bond funds were strong sellers to investors desperate for good yields. BUSINESS FOCUSES ON OPTIONS: Big business is firing its biggest guns to ensure that stock options - a favorite form of executive pay - won't be charged as an expense on company financial statements. The Business Roundtable, representing big business, is taking unusual steps to prevent the Financial Accounting Standards Board from forcing companies to put a value on option grants and charge the grants against earnings. JAPAN TROTS OUT ECONOMIC PLAN: The Japanese government Friday unveils an economic revival plan that has excited investors and pulled Japanese stocks out of a long slump. The plan, to be announced Friday in Tokyo, is expected to provide 9 trillion yen in added spending to boost the Japanese economy. That's $72 billion, almost a quarter of the $322 billion annual U.S. defense budget. ECONOMIC PLAN EXCITES INVESTORS: The Japanese government has been leaking details for the past week of an economic revival plan that has excited investors and ended a long Japanese stock slump. That did wonders for stocks there, stopping a plunge that took stocks to 6 1:2-year lows. The widely watched Nikkei stock average rallied 3,246 points (23%) in a six-day run, including a 1,013-point rally Thursday. TEE-COMM CLEARED FOR TRADING: Tee-Comm Electronics Inc. said Thursday it has received clearance from the Securities and Exchange Commission to begin trading on the American Stock Exchange Friday. The company's common stock will trade under the symbol TEN on the American and Toronto stock exchanges. Milton, Ontario-based Tee-Comm makes and distributes satellite television equipment. JAPAN RALLIES; DOW GAINS: Stocks rose Thursday after foreign exchanges surged and the dollar strengthened. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 7.83 points to 3254.64. Broader indexes also rose. Winners beat losers 1,087 to 662 on the New York stock exchange, where volume was 179 million shares. A strong rally in Japan encouraged U.S. investors. The 225-share Nikkei average jumped 6% to 17,555. GOLD, SILVER UP: Gold prices were mostly higher Thursday. On the New York Commodity Exchange, gold bullion for current delivery settled at $339.20 a troy ounce, up 90 cents from $338.30 on Wednesday. Republic National Bank said gold rose to a late bid price of $338.95 a troy ounce, up 80 cents. On Comex, silver bullion for current delivery settled at $3.705 a troy ounce, up from $3.669. DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Friday at 3254.64 after closing up 7.83 Thursday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 227.73, up 0.25. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 381.00, up 1.35. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 563.27, up 4.47. DOLLAR OPENS UP OVERSEAS: The dollar opens up on Friday. It opens at 0.5054 British pounds, up from 0.5033; 4.8168 French francs, up from 4.7890; 1.4090 German marks, up from 1.4053; and 124.88 Japanese yen, up from 124.75. (As of 3 p.m. Thursday. Source: First American Bank of New York.) Personal Investing editor: Beth Mann. (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