Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.invest,americast.usa-today.invest From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: invest Thu, Sep 10 1992 Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 05:44:18 EDT Message-ID: 09-10 0000 DECISIONLINE: Personal Investing USA TODAY Update Sept. 10, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network SOFTWARE PRICE WAR RAGES: There is a price war raging in personal-computer software and one of the main combatants, Borland International, intends to take no prisoners. Shares of the Scotts Valley, Calif., company have been pounded this year, but the Thursday announcement of Borland's mass production of Quatro Pro for Windows caused their stock to jump 2 1:8 points on Wednesday. (For more, see special package on Borland below.) CAMPBELL EDGES HIGHER: Campbell Soupstirred up Wall Street on Wednesday, but its future may not be so hot. Campbell stock jumped 2 1:4 to $39 1:4 after the company's fourth-quarter earnings came in higher than expected. But analysts point out that most gains have come thanks to cost-cutting efforts of CEO David Johnson, a turnaround specialist. Analysts don't think there's anything else to cut. CAMPBELL RISE COULD BE OVER: Campbell Soup said Wednesday that earnings per share in the quarter that ended Aug. 2 grew 33% to 44 cents a share from 33 cents a share. It was the company's eighth straight quarter of record earnings. Donaldson Lufkin Jenrette analyst William Leach thinks the jump is over. Leach believes that profit margins and revenue can possibly continue to improve at previous rates. SWEDEN OFFERS HIGH CD YIELDS: Many investors think German interest rates on short-term securities and bank certificates of deposit look great. The 8.6% yield on a German CD sure beats the typical 3.2% in the USA. Now Sweden is offering the highest yields around. Joans Rimme of JP Bank in Stockholm said Wednesday that yields could go as high as 15%. The catch: Investors must travel abroad to open an account. AIR SHOW HIGHLIGHTS MARKET LULL: Jetmakers love to announce multimillion-dollar sales contracts during big air shows. There's one going on through Sunday in England, but the deals haven't been so hot. The three leading Western airliner makers - Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Airbus Industrie - have managed just two orders. That's how it's gone this year, and analysts say makers may continue to take lumps. INVESTORS ARE STILL PESSIMISTIC: There were small gains in the stock market Wednesday when Johnson's Redbook Service reported that retail revenue was up 9.8% the first week of September. But analysts said that investors remain pessimistic about the stock market. Airline stocks were a highlight, gaining on praise from Salomon Bros. and rumors of imminent fare increases. GOLD DOWN; SILVER MIXED: Gold prices fell Wednesday. On the New York Commodity Exchange, gold bullion for current delivery settled at $342.20, down from $342.50. Republic National Bank quoted a price of $342.00, down from $342.10. In London, gold rose to $342.65 from $342.45 and silver bullion rose to $3.74 from $3.73 bid. On the Comex, silver bullion for current delivery settled at $3.709, down from $3.711. DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens at 3271.39 Thursday after closing up 10.80 Wednesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 229.10, up 0.73. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 382.82, down 0.54. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 574.89, up 3.72. DOLLAR OPENS UP OVERSEAS: The dollar opens up on Thursday. It opens at 0.5053 British pounds, up from 0.4986; 4.8055 French francs, up from 4.7405; 1.4063 German marks, up from 1.3922; and 122.92 Japanese yen, up tfrom 122.75. (As of 3 p.m. Tuesday. Source: First American Bank of New York.) SPECIAL PACKAGE ON BORLAND: BORLAND STOCK JUMPS: Borland International stock jumped Wednesday after news spread that it will announce on Thursday the arrival of its most awaited product. Quattro Pro for Windows will finally hit the market after several missed shipment dates. The program runs with Microsoft's best-selling Windows PC software. Borland's Windows spreadsheet introduction already has started a software price-cutting battle. INVESTOR PREDICTS NEW DEAL: Rick Sherlund of Goldman Sachs, a Borland bull, suspects Borland might soon cut a deal with a PC maker who agrees to install several Borland products in PCs shipped from the factory. At the end of 60 days, the Borland programs disappear from the disk except for the one the customer chooses. Sherlund is betting that the customer will like all of the products - he thinks there will be three. BORLAND COULD STAY BIG: If Sherlund is right it could mean a big jump for Borland. He thinks customers will buy the products which they must eliminate with their choice. He also thinks Borland won't be hurt by the price war. Its costs are much lower than those of Lotus or Microsoft. And existing versions of Quattro Pro already have a fiercely loyal following. (End of package.) 24-HOUR TELEPHONE INFORMATION: USA TODAY Money Hot Line. 95 cents a minute. 1-900-555-5555. Personal Investing editor: Martin Baucom. (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