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 Tue, Apr 21 1992 Date: Tue, 21 Apr 92 05:41:43 EDT Message-ID: 04-21 0000 DECISIONLINE: Personal Investing USA TODAY Update April 21, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network STOCKS PULL BACK: Climbing interest rates and bad earnings news brought down stocks Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 30.19 points, 0.9%, to 3336.31. That ended a six-day string of gains that boosted the Dow 185 points to a record close. The losses were worse elsewhere. The NASDAQ over-the-counter index of small-company stocks slid 14.61 points, 2.5%, to 577.20. PROFIT-TAKING BLAMED FOR FALL: Part of Monday's stock slide was blamed on investors selling to lock in profits after so many stocks had big gains last week. More importantly, two pieces of good news last week turned into bad news Monday: Interest rates rose and earnings news turned bad. The yield on 30-year Treasury bonds jumped to 8.02% from 7.93% late Thursday. Investors dumped stocks of companies that reported poor earnings. CAP CITIES:ABC SHARES PLUNGE: Shares of Capital Cities:ABC plummeted 10 3:4 to $457 1:4 Monday after the company said its first quarter earnings fell 28%. Net income for the quarter ended March 29 was $41.7 million on revenue of $1.1 billion, vs. $58.6 million on revenue of $1.3 billion last year. Earnings per share fell to $2.51. Much of the decline was attributed to a drop in ad revenue at the ABC television network. CLAIBORNE'S NET NOT GOOD ENOUGH: Liz Claiborne's record earnings and revenue the first quarter couldn't offset a pessimistic view of the rest the year. In reporting a 3% increase in net income to $62.8 million, or 74 cents a share, on revenue of $557 million, the apparel maker said Monday it expects only marginal increases in earnings the rest of the year. Its shares were hammered, falling 3 1:8 to $35 1:4.. BIG BANKS' EARNINGS STRONG: Two big banks, Chase Manhattan and Nationsbank, reported strong first quarter earnings Monday, signaling better days ahead for the banking industry. Chase's net income rose 21% to $141 million or 81 cents a share from $117 million or 73 cents a share a year earlier. NationsBank's net income surged 95% to $310 million or $1.28 a share from $159 million, or 70 cents a share a year earlier. MICROSOFT SEES SLOW GOING: Nervous investors dumped shares of Microsoft Monday on the software maker's forecast that business will grow 25% to 30% next fiscal year, which begins July 1. Microsoft plunged 9 1:2 to $118 1:8. Microsoft, which made its projections to analysts Thursday, has been averaging almost 50% growth annually. Analysts expect Microsoft's revenue to rise 50% to $2.7 billion in 1992. COLLEGE BOUND TRADING SUSPENDED: Trading in stock of College Bound was suspended for 10 days Monday by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC said the test-preparation firm may have filed false financial statements and asked a federal court to order it to comply with a subpoena. An SEC probe centers on whether company officials lied about the company's financial condition in connection with a recent stock offering. BIOTECH STOCKS SLUMP: Biotechnology stocks crumbled Monday. Centocor skidded 3 1:4 to $12 3:4 on heavy volume. Centocor traded as high as $60 1:4 last year. Alex. Brown downgraded the stock, saying the biotech company might not survive a recent setback for Centoxin. Last week, U.S. regulators declined to approve the drug. Other biotechs set 52-week lows. Ventritex lost 4 1:4 to $20. Amgen fell 2 1:2 to $54 1:2. STORAGE TECHNOLOGY FALLS: Storage Technology slumped 3 7:8 to $56 1:4 Monday after USA TODAY columnist Dan Dorfman said on CNBC that first-quarter earnings would be disappointing. After the market closed, Storage said earnings fell to 30 cents a share from 36 cents last year. GOLD, SILVER PRICES DOWN: Gold prices fell Monday. On the New York Commodity Exchange, gold for current delivery fell 50 cents a troy ounce to $336.90. Later, Republic National Bank in New York quoted an ounce of gold bullion at $336.75, off 25 cents. Silver prices slipped in New York. On New York's Comex, silver for current delivery closed at $3.963 a troy ounce from $3.967 late Thursday. DOW JONES OPENS ON DOWNSWING: The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials opens Tuesday at 3336.31 after closing down 30.19 points Monday. The New York Stock Exchange composite opens at 225.77, down 3.13. The American Stock Exchange market value opens at 387.08, down 5.56. The NASDAQ OTC composite opens at 577.20, down 14.61. DOLLAR OPENS MIXED OVERSEAS: The dollar opens mostly up on Tuesday. It opens at 0.5732 British pounds, up from 0.5724; 5.6390 French francs, down from 5.6395; 1.6745 German marks, up from 1.6680; and 134.42 Japanese yen, up from 133.85. (As of 3 p.m. Monday. 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