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 15 1992 Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 05:42:41 EDT Message-ID: 04-15 0000 DECISIONLINE: Personal Investing USA TODAY Update April 15, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network DOW CRASHES THROUGH 3,300: The Dow Jones industrial average surged to close above 3300 for the first time on good earnings news from big companies like IBM, Ford and Alcoa. The Dow industrials ended 36.23 points higher at 3306.13. The gain caps a four-day, 125-point rally. "You're in a bull market," says veteran market follower Lazslo Birinyi. "Instead of disappointments, investors got pleasant surprises." IBM OFFERS EARNINGS SURPRISE: IBM reported a surprisingly robust 7% gain in first-quarter earnings, fanning hopes that the USA's battered computer industry may be rebounding. IBM said net income rose to $595 million, or $1.04 a share, from $556 million, or 97 cents a share. The stock rose 3:4 to $88 1:4. Other computer stocks rose: Digital Equipment added 1 1:4 to $46 7:8, and Apple surged 2 1:4 to $58 3:4. ROADWAY SERVICES ADVANCES: Shares of Roadway Services shot up 4 1:4 to $75 1:2 Tuesday as investors looking for cyclical stocks that perk up as soon as the economy does made a big bet on the trucking and small-package-delivery company. Behind the price surge: Good earnings and signs that factories are producing and shipping slightly more goods than last year. First-quarter net income rose 63% to 78 cents a share. BANC ONE BUYS ARIZONA BANK: Banc One, one of the USA's most acquisitive bank companies, Tuesday agreed to acquire Arizona's biggest bank, Valley National, for $1.2 billion in stock. Valley National stockholders will get 1.2 Banc One shares for each of their shares, making the deal worth $54 3:4 a share at Tuesday's closing price. Valley National shares soared 11 3:4 to $49 3:4; Banc One shares slid 1 1:2 to $45 5:8. BROKERAGE EARNINGS SURGE: Two of the largest brokers Tuesday reported record earnings for the first three months of the year. PaineWebber's first-quarter net income soared 131% to a record $74 million, or $1.20 a share. Merrill Lynch said quarterly earnings jumped 54% to a record $278 million, or $2.39 a share. Merrill's stock closed down 7:8 at $50 1:8, and PaineWebber's was flat at $20 3:4. FUNDS NEARLY EQUAL IN LONG TERM: During the last 15 years, an investor would have done almost as well in a money-market mutual fund - and taken no risk - as in a bond mutual fund. A $10,000 investment in the average money fund on March 31, 1977, would have grown to $36,070 by the end of last month. A $10,000 investment in the average government bond fund would have grown by just $3,710 more, to $39,780. PRO SAYS BOND FUNDS A GOOD BUY: Investors shoveled $68 billion into bond funds last year, and a top-notch mutual-fund manager thinks that's smart money. Ken Heebner, whose CGM Capital Development Fund has the best performance of any diversified stock fund the past five years, says long-term bond rates could fall still further. Falling rates would help stimulate world economies and push bond prices higher. BOND FUNDS MANAGED AGGRESSIVELY: Bond-fund managers are more aggressive than stock-fund managers -at least by one measure. That measure is called turnover, which is a way of measuring the amount of trading done by a fund manager. A fund with a high turnover hits buys and sells more often. The average stock fund had an 87% turnover rate last fiscal year. The average bond fund had a 120% turnover. BEWARE OF OIL STOCKS: While oil's recent spurt above $20 a barrel may seem like a buy signal for beaten up oil stocks, oil analyst Michael Young of Smith Barney, says, "Watch out!" The long term picture remains essentially unchanged. Still, he says you can get good mileage in select stocks - gains of up to 43% in 12 months. Top picks: Amerada Hess, Unocal, Valero Energy, Exxon and Texaco. SCHWAB HAS DEAL ON IRAS: Investors whose individual retirement account has grown to more than $10,000 can save the annual fee for life by changing custodians to Charles Schwab & Co. The San Francisco-based discount broker is waiving IRA custodian fees - normally $22 a year - to anyone with an IRA balance of more than $10,000. Call 1-800-442-5111. GOLD, SILVER MOVE HIGHER: Gold and silver prices rose. On the Commodity Exchange, gold closed at $339.50 a troy ounce, up 30 cents. Republic National Bank quoted gold bullion at $339.25, up 45 cents. The metal fell in London and Zurich. On the Comex, silver for current delivery settled at $4.101 a troy ounce, up 1.6 cents. DOW JONES OPENS ON UPSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Wednesday at 3306.13, after closing up 36.23 Tuesday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 227.31, up 3.15. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 392.14, up 3.25. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 594.81, up 6.66. DOLLAR OPENS MOSTLY DOWN: The dollar opens mixed on foreign markets Wednesday. It opens at 0.5669 British pounds, down from 0.5688; 5.5950 French francs, up from 5.5750; 133.08 Japanese yen, down from 133.37; and 1.6527 German marks, up from 1.6571. (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