SUSIE GHARIB: A mixed day on Wall Street. The Dow got hammed again, losing more than 100 points on more worries about oil prices and corporate earnings. But the NASDAQ added to its gains, tacking on another 30 points. Leading the way: computer and chip stocks. Is it time for a high-tech rally? Scott Gurvey reports.

SCOTT GURVEY, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: It was another turbulent day for investors. The Dow was down, but the NASDAQ gained for the second day in a row. Two days does not a rally make, but some analysts say investors are concluding that some of their fears have been unfounded. For example, there had been a widespread belief that sales of personal computers are down. But are they really? Back-to-school computer sales did get off to a slow start. But they often increase at the end of the season, in September. Intel (INTC) says it sees increases in microprocessor demand, and memory makers report healthy demand for their chips.

MEGAN GRAHAM-HACKETT, COMPUTER ANALYST, S&P EQUITY GROUP: The corporate market has come back stronger than it has in the first half of the year. So net-net, we believe that unit growth is on track to hit 18 percent. And we think this is impressive, given the fact that a year ago, the third quarter of 1999 was the strongest unit growth out of any of the quarters in that year.

GURVEY: There are also worries about sales of Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows 2000 operating system. But the company says sales are in-line with plan, and many analysts expect a significant pickup in sales in the second half, as large companies begin to deploy the complex system. Finally, there are fears that demand for mobile phones is slowing, and wireless companies will be forced to cut capital spending. Analysts say the companies simply can't afford to cut.

CHARLES BOUCHER, SEMICONDUCTOR ANALYST, BEAR STEARNS: In the technology world, you either invest in next-generation technology or ultimately perish. And a lot of these companies are going to be faced with the choice of slowing down investment in Internet and data communications technologies, which are going to be necessary to drive their growth over the next decade; or not investing. And I think the strategic comparative is so high, I believe Wall Street will eventually help to finance that growth.

GURVEY: Many analysts may be bullish about the tech sector for the fourth quarter, but overall, the NASDAQ is still down 4 percent so far for the year; a far cry from last year's gain of 85 percent. Scott Gurvey, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, New York.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post-broadcast. The program is transcribed by FDCH. Updates may be posted at a later date.

The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT.

Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice.

©2000 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.


09/20/2000: Supply & Demand Slide Oil Prices Higher

SUSIE GHARIB: Oil prices keep on gushing higher. They hit a fresh 10-year high today, closing at 37.20 a barrel; but they traded as high as 37.90. Crude prices haven't been this high since the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. But as Stephanie Woods reports, this time, oil prices are rising because of supply and demand issues.

STEPHANIE WOODS, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: There's simply not a lot of oil around. That has the price of crude near $40 a barrel, more than double last year's average price. Traders here don't see the price dropping anytime soon.

SCOTT HESS, OIL TRADER, G & H COMMODITIES: I think oil prices going into the fall heating oil season, and for the remainder of the year, are going to remain at quite lofty levels.

WOODS: Members of Congress are worried about the spike in natural gas prices, and a 5-year low of home heating oil supplies.

REP. DAN BURTON R- INDIANA: All of these things are like cracks in the dike. They're telling us loud and clear that we have a system that's in serious trouble. It looks to me like we're headed for an energy crisis this winter, and another one next summer.

WOODS: It's not just a U.S. concern. Soaring oil prices have sparked protests across Europe. There are worries the high cost of oil will slow the global economy. Treasury secretary, Lawrence Summers says the topic will be on the table when G-7 finance ministers meet in Prague, this weekend.

LAWRENCE SUMMERS, TREASURY SECRETARY: We're obviously watching developments in the oil market very closely. I expect that oil will be among the topics that will be discussed in the course of the discussions on the global economy.

WOODS: President Clinton is considering tapping into the strategic petroleum reserves as a way to ease the economic and political pain. But oil analyst, Vahan Zanoyan says talk of pumping more oil into the market is making matters worse.

VAHAN ZANOYAN, CEO, PETROLEUM FINANCE COMPANY: Because the uncertainty is increasing the disincentive of the industry to buy current crude oil, at these high prices; and to stock-up the inventories, which, in turn, is keeping things tight.

WOODS: Record-low inventories of heating oil and a predicted colder winter than last year could send prices even higher, and could spill over into the economy; a fear that's already taking its toll on the stock market. Stephanie Woods, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Washington.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post-broadcast. The program is transcribed by FDCH. Updates may be posted at a later date.

The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT.

Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice.

©2000 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.

09/20/2000: Tracking Internet Stocks On The Comeback Trail

PAUL KANGAS: The great majority of Internet stocks have been so badly pummeled this year, most investors have given up on the sector. But Bridge reporter, Elizabeth Farrell has recently talked to some analysts who think some of these fallen angels may sprout wings again. And, Liz, welcome. Tell us about some of these stocks which may have "comeback" potential.

ELIZABETH FARRELL, IPO REPORTER, BRIDGENEWS: Well, the ones that analysts have the greatest confidence in are ones that don't-aren't solely based on the Internet. A good example of this is a company called Workflow Management Inc. (WORK). This company is a commercial printing services supplier and it also has an online division called IGetSmart, which is electronic supply chain management. This company is currently trading around 6 3/16. It had been as high as 32 and one thing that's great about this company is that the First Call, Thomson/First Call analysts have it rated as a "buy" and its net income has tripled in the past, almost tripled in the past year.

KANGAS: OK, the problem with a lot of these stocks or companies has been that their cost structure has grown faster than their revenue stream, correct?

FARRELL: Yes, a lot of them spent a lot, too much money on marketing.

KANGAS: Right.

FARRELL: And one company that has sort of stayed away from that approach has a very low burn rate and just received a great infusion of cash is Tickets.com (TIXX). This company is suffering from the misconception that it's just a online ticket vendor. It's actually Ticketmaster.com's (TMCS) biggest competitor. They have an exclusive contract with Lincoln Center, the same for a lot of major league baseball teams that they've been able to take away from Ticketmaster.

KANGAS: OK, well, that sounds kind of promising. How about another one?

FARRELL: Another one is K Mart (KM).

KANGAS: K-Mart, the Internet stock?

FARRELL: Well, their Bluelight.com division launched about six weeks ago.

KANGAS: Understood. OK.

FARRELL: So, the CEO is predicting that this branch will be profitable by the end of 2001. The stock actually reached a new low today of 1 3/16.

KANGAS: It was around 6, I think, wasn't it?

FARRELL: I'm sorry, 6 3/16.

KANGAS: Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

FARRELL: Yes.

KANGAS: OK. Anyway, you think it's got a good comeback potential. I think the high was something around 13 in the last year or so, right?

FARRELL: Yes, it had reached a high of 13.

KANGAS: Anything else? We've got time for one more.

FARRELL: One more, drkoop (KOOP).

KANGAS: Ooh.

FARRELL: This is a risky choice but some analysts I've talked to have confidence in it because it received financing of $27.5 million a few weeks ago.

KANGAS: OK. Very speculative, though, right?

FARRELL: Yes.

KANGAS: OK. Liz, thanks very much for being with us.

FARRELL: Thank you.

KANGAS: My guest, Elizabeth Farrell of BridgeNews

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post-broadcast. The program is transcribed by FDCH. Updates may be posted at a later date.

The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT.

Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice.

©2000 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.


09/20/2000: Sugar Prices Turn Sour For Sugar Growers

SUSIE GHARIB: While oil prices soar to new highs, the prices paid for U.S. farm commodities are stuck at record lows and that's hurting traditionally stable crops like sugar. Jeff Yastine reports.

JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: In southern Florida, thousands of acres of sugar cane stretch out for miles. But the price growers can get for that sugar has declined sharply in recent months. Domestic sugar prices have stayed in the $0.22 a pound range of years, but fell to $0.17 last year before recovering slightly. And that decline has hurt privately held U.S. Sugar. It recently announced a restructuring effort, splitting its operations into two divisions and laying off about 300 people.

JAMES TERRILL, EXEC. VP, U.S. SUGAR: We are attacking the problem as aggressively as we can on the cost side of our business to try to drive our costs down as low as we possibly can get it. The unfortunate part of that mix is that it usually involves some jobs. We are trying to streamline our operations to the extent we can and try to minimize the human impact of that along the way.

YASTINE: Low prices are also forcing smaller growers to turn this year's harvest over to the USDA because they can't pay back government loans. But why the drop in sugar prices? The main reason: abundant supplies. The traditional stability in sugar prices led suffering wheat and corn farmers in the U.S. to plant sugar beets and sugar cane in hopes of reaping a profit. And industry economists like Jack Roney say imports are also contributing to the situation.

JACK RONEY, DIR. OF ECONOMICS, AMERICAN SUGAR ALLIANCE: The Uruguay round of the GATT requires us to import one and a quarter million tons each year. That's about 12 1/2 percent of our consumption, whether we need it or not. The NAFTA requires us to import a growing amount of sugar from Mexico whether we need it or not. And those international trade commitments buddied up against our unusually high production has over supplied our market.

YASTINE: Ironically, the world market price for sugar, a separate market from the U.S., has nearly doubled from the beginning of the year. Steady demand, poor growing weather and declining sugar production have put the squeeze on there. In the meantime, U.S. producers await a turn higher in domestic market prices and they're hoping for some eventual relief through changes in farming and import laws in Congress. But those debates and the industry itself are always controversial. So U.S. growers may have to cope with lower prices for some time to come. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Miami.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post-broadcast. The program is transcribed by FDCH. Updates may be posted at a later date.

The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT.

Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice.

©2000 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.


09/20/2000: “Money File”- Mutual Fund Returns

SUSIE GHARIB: In the money file tonight, the problem with mutual fund performance reporting. Here's Don Phillips, the CEO of Morningstar.

DON PHILLIPS, CEO, MORNINGSTAR: Much has been made in recent years about mutual funds failing to beat the market's return. But the fund industry's dirty little secret isn't that so many funds have trailed the index, it's that the actual returns that investors have gotten from their funds have been far lower than those quoted by the financial press. Investor returns differ from stated fund returns for a variety of reasons, the most significant of which is that investors don't hold their shares for the full time period being cited. We tend to jump onboard hot funds after they've already gone up and hold them as performance slows or declines. Many, many more fund investors ride funds down than ride them up. Investor returns can also differ from quoted returns if an investor accepts fund distributions in cash or reinvests them. Official fund returns assume reinvestment even though many investors don't reinvest their dollars to get the full compounded return on their capital. Taxes also take a big bite that often goes unnoticed. Finally, redemption fees and sales charges can also cause an investor's return to differ from the stated one. All of these things add up to one unhappy conclusion: investors aren't doing as well with mutual funds as they might. Until investors learn to stay in funds for the long haul, to pay more attention to costs and to be more tax savvy about their investments, their returns will continue to trail badly those cited in the press. And until investor returns improve, no one in or around the fund industry should be satisfied with their performance. For if the investor doesn't win, we all lose. I'm Don Phillips.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post-broadcast. The program is transcribed by FDCH. Updates may be posted at a later date.

The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT.

Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice.

©2000 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.

09/20/2000: Paul Kangas' Wall Street Wrap Up

PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street opened narrowly mixed today, but soon began to lose ground because of continuing weakness in the Euro against the dollar, and still higher oil prices which have been the thorns in the market's side for over a week now. At 10 a.m., the Dow was down 35 1/2 points, and the NASDAQ Index - unable to follow through on yesterday's big 139-point run-up - posted a 22-point loss. The market continued to lose ground as morning trading moved on, with a growing sense of depression among money managers appearing to take hold. As a result, buyers were scarce; and stocks seemed to drop out of sheer neglect, especially the blue chips. By 1:30 this afternoon, the Dow fell to a 214-point deficit; while the NASDAQ Index was down 61 1/2 points. Those depressed levels finally attracted some cautious buying in the blue chips, and more aggressive bidding in the tech sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to cut its closing loss to 101.37 points, putting it at 10,687.92. In its 257-point trading range, the Dow closed down 136 points from the best level of the session; up about 103 points from the low of the day. The NASDAQ Composite managed to gain 31.80 ending at 3897.44. In its 119-point trading range, the Composite Index settled about 17 points below its best level of the day, and up 102 1/2 points from the low of the session.

Big board volume moved a little above 1.1 billion shares. And down volume exceeded up volume by a wide margin, 7-to-3.

Dow Transport Index down nearly 14 1/4 points.

Utilities had a bad day, down nearly 8 1/2. That's on top of a big 16-point drop yesterday - some profit taking there.

Closing Tick feebly bullish at +128.

Standard & Poor's 500 down a little over 8 1/2.

Nearly a 5 1/4-point drop on the 100.

The MidCap 400 edged up 1/4 of a point.

Bridge Futures Price Index down 1.28.

New York Stock Exchange Composite lost just over 7 1/4 points.

Almost a 2 1/2-point drop on the Value Line.

Russell2000 Small Cap Index off 1.88.

And the broadly-based Wilshire 5000 down just about 52 1/2 points.

The bond market backed down early today on news that the U.S. July trade deficit rose to a new record at $31.9 billion. But that report was partially offset by the Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book survey on the economy, which shows fresh signs that its growth is slowing, as sales and construction activity softened in August and early September.

Even so, another jump in oil futures sent tax-free and corporate issues to 1/8 to 1/4-point closing losses on average.

While the Treasury market fell across the board.

5-year notes down 6/32.

As were the 10-year notes, with the yield at 5.90 percent.

And the 30-year bond down 5/32.

The Lehman Brothers Long-Term Treasury Bond Index fell 8.19.

Today the Lehman shares gained $0.75 to close at $144.44.

The Dow overall, a lot better than it was a mid-session. It cut its loss in half. But still down 103 1/3 points and the broader market lower. For every 11 stocks higher, about 16 lower; 48 new yearly highs, 138 new lows.

Sprint PCS Group (PCS) tipped the active list on 25.1 million shares, tumbling $7.81. The company sees a lower than expected third quarter net customer additions of about 800,000. And incidentally, its parent,

Sprint (FON), issued a third quarter profit warning.

AT & T (T) lost $0.88.

AT & T Corp Liberty Media (LMGA) down $1.50.

And Micron Technology (MU) edging up another $0.81. It was up over $7 yesterday after Chase Hambrecht & Quist issued a "strong buy" and set a $120 a share target price on Micron stock.

Lucent (LU) down $1.31 today, fifth in volume.

Texas Instruments (TXN) lost $4.06. The ABN Amro Brokerage downgraded it from "buy" to "outperform" and also lowered its target price for the next 12 months from $100 to $85 a share.

Vodafone Group (VOD) down $3.31.

Nortel Networks (NT) dropped $2.81.

And then General Electric (GE) dropping $0.31.

Compaq Computer (CPQ) 10th in volume, edged up $0.19.

Consolidated Energy (CNX) fell $1.56. The company sees first quarter earnings coming in around $0.05 to $0.10. The Street estimate was for $0.20 a share.

Disney (DIS) down $1.13. The company has entered licensing agreements with Mattel (MAT) and Hasbro (HAS) for them to make Disney (DIS) toys.

Estee Lauder (EL) down $2.44. The Robertson Stevenson Brokerage thinks first quarter total sales could be hurt by the weak Euro and so Robertson cut earnings estimates for Estee Lauder.

Jabil Circuit (JBL) up $4.25 after the close yesterday. The company, fourth quarter earnings, $0.24, up from $0.14 on a 77 percent jump in revenue and today First Boston Brokerage repeated a "buy" on Jabil.

Mylan Labs (MYL) up $2.06. The company received tentative FDA approval for its generic version of the cancer drug Taxol.

And PG & E (PCG), this is an example of some profit taking in the recently red hot utility stocks. This is the main reason why the Dow Utility Index lost nearly 8 1/2 points today PG & E down.

Swift Energy (SFY) up $3.63.

And McMoRan Exploration (MMR) up $1.13, two of the best gainers on the big board because of high oil prices. Swift says its oil drilling site in the Taranaki Basin of New Zealand is very promising. And McMoRan Oil, along with Mobil (XOM) affiliates, have announced a natural gas discovery in the Gulf of Mexico.

Quantum DLT & Storage Systems (DSS) up $1.75. Chase Hambrecht & Quist Brokerage upgraded it from "buy" to a "strong buy."

And Darden Restaurants (DRI) gained $1.25. First quarter earnings, $0.46, nicely higher than $0.35 last year. Sales were up 10 percent. Lehman issued a "buy."

PolyOne Chemical Company (POL) down $1.56, specialty chemicals. The company says third quarter earnings will be hurt by raw material and energy costs which are rising.

And Wackenhut Corrections (WHC), the security firm, down $1.50. The company sees lower than expected third quarter earnings of $0.22 to $0.24 and cites a delay in the opening of a prison in San Diego.

NASDAQ trading, a gain of almost 32 points. Volume up nicely from yesterday, about 97 million shares more, and 16 stocks higher for every 23 lower, though.

Intel (INTC) topped the active list, moving up $2.69.

Cisco (CSCO) up $1.13.

JDS Uniphase (JDSU) dropping $0.81.

Juniper Networks (JNPR) had another good day, up over $10.

SDL (SDLI) rising $1.31, fifth in NASDAQ dollar volume.

Sun Microsystems (SUNW) another 2 point gain.

Microsoft (MSFT) fell $0.75.

QUALCOMM (QCOM), a little profit taking there, down $2.45.