PAUL KANGAS: Investors weren't sure which way to head today, after spending several weeks being knocked about by corporate earnings worries. The Dow fell three points today and the NASDAQ dropped almost 33 points. Many investors are now looking at market technicals for a clue as to where stocks might be headed. Here's Erika Miller with details.

ERIKA MILLER, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: It's been a tough year for many investors. All major market indexes are in negative territory, and technical analysts say the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. One concern is that both the Dow and the NASDAQ have recently broken through key support levels.

BOB DICKEY, TECHNICAL ANALYST, DAIN RAUSCHER WESSELS: These levels are created when the market comes down to a low and then bounces off of that level. That becomes a support level, which is then important for the market to hold. The fact that it didn't here this week means that this correction is likely to extend itself.

MILLER: For the Dow, that level was 10,850. Technicians say the Average's next major test is 10,500. The NASDAQ broke 3750 this week. Analysts identify 3500 as the Index's next major support. Technicians are also concerned about worsening advance/decline lines for major market indexes. This chart shows the net difference between the number of stocks rising and falling at the New York Stock Exchange. Over the past few months, the trend had generally been improving. But that has changed recently, which has some analysts concerned.

FRANK GRETZ, TECHNICAL ANALYST, SHIELDS & COMPANY: Certainly one of the most important things is what the average stock is doing; not just the market averages. And over the last eight days for example, we've seen more stocks down than up. That's never usually a good sign.

MILLER: Analysts say another potentially worrisome sign is that that the major market indexes are all moving lower, as opposed to earlier in the year when the Dow and the NASDAQ moved in opposite directions.

DICKEY: The fact that both are in correction modes adds a little more firepower to this market, means we're probably going to be drifting lower for another several weeks.

MILLER: A weakening technical picture may be of particular significance this time of year. October is right around the corner - a month that is remembered by many investors for its notorious stock market crashes. Erika Miller, 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.


09/27/2000:AOL Links Up With DoCoMo In A $100M Deal

SUSIE GHARIB:"You've got mail" in Japanese, and it's wireless. America Online (AOL) announced today that it's hooking up with Japan's NTT DoCoMo - it's a $100 million deal to let customers access the web with cellular phones. But another deal is still front and center for AOL - that's its merger with Time Warner (TWX). And as Stephanie Woods reports, the merger review process is getting down to the wire.

STEPHANIE WOODS, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: America Online's Steve Case, and Time Warner's Gerry Levin found themselves, once again, defending their deal. Members of Congress are still seeking assurances the combination won't put a stranglehold over the developing interactive TV and high-speed Internet market.

STEVE CASE, CHAIRMAN & CEO, AMERICA ONLINE: I think this merger has been the most scrutinized merger in history. We've had numerous hearings in Congress and the FCC. Many companies, not just ours, many competitors, have been deposed by various regulatory bodies; so I would just like to assure you that all the issues are being dealt with.

WOODS: Regulators are trying to get the companies to agree to give competitors access to Time Warner's high-speed Internet service. They also want AOL to make its Instant Messaging Service work with competitors'. Companies like CMGI (CMGI) want regulators to impose a specific date for AOL's system to work with theirs.

ROSS BAGULLY, VP INSTANT MESSAGING, CMGI: Once that date is set, then all the incentive for AOL to drag its feet, to not cooperate, to not participate, to work against the process, goes away; and then, AOL will participate with the rest of the counterparts in the industry, and will come up with a much better, much quicker solution.

WOODS: But both Case and Levin complained these issues are not unique to the merger, and they let it be known they don't think regulators have the legal grounds to block it.

GERALD LEVIN, CHAIRMAN & CEO, TIME WARNER: It's one of those unusual situations where the concepts are more interesting than perhaps the true issues.

WOODS: Case and Levin appear to be willing to do whatever it takes to get their deal done. Analysts say the conditions being talked about aren't enough to hang it up completely. Regulators are expected to give the final word next month. 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.

09/27/2000: Japan's Attitude Blamed For Firestone's Flat Reaction To Tire Troubles

SUSIE GHARIB: Florida's attorney general asked a judge today to unseal documents in a civil case against Bridgestone/Firestone. It's part of a national effort to uncover information on the tire related deaths of more than 100 people. Meanwhile, Bridgestone/Firestone's delayed and tepid response to the crisis continues to come under fire. As Lucy Craft reports, that type of response is typical of traditional Japanese management.

LUCY CRAFT, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: When the Firestone crisis erupted, Bridgestone's conservative leadership seemed to run off the road. Tokyo's delayed reaction to the tire fiasco, analysts say, was typical of many Japanese companies which excel at boosting market share but may underachieve in public relations and crisis control.

STEVE USHER, AUTO ANALYST, JARDINE FLEMING SECURITIES/ASIA: It's typical of a Japanese company to be very conservative when a problem like this develops.

CHRISTOPHER REDL, AUTO ANALYST, UBS WARBURG/JAPAN: While they may be excellent managers in the tire industry, unfortunately when it comes to crisis management, Bridgestone's management was not very effective in this area and this is clear from the sheer fact that it took over a month until the president came out and actually faced the press and the investment community.

CRAFT: Compared to the U.S., Japanese decision making moves at glacial speed, geared toward gradual consensus rather than lightning pronouncements. Information disclosure is not as open as in the U.S. and most Japanese CEOs have yet to master the art of spin control.

REDL: One of the things about Mr. Kaizaki , the president of Bridgestone, is that he would be seen, I guess, in Japan as one of the more sort of one of the more sort of old fashioned Japanese type managers, a person who's very, very effective in getting things done; however, also very stubborn in his own ways. And therefore when he said that there's no reason to go talk to the press or the investment community at a time like this because we're only going to get lambasted anyways, there's nothing much that other sections of the company could do to sort of go against that.

CRAFT: Bridgestone's years of success, say analysts, made it complacent about managing its image. Granted it, didn't have to. Already dominant in the lucrative Japanese market and beloved among investors, Bridgestone in recent years has aggressively expanded overseas, taking a 20 percent share of the U.S. and global tire markets.

HIROMASA IRIE, EQUITY RESEARCH DEPARTMENT, NOMURA SECURITIES: Bridgestone is a very conservative company, but it's extremely focused on cutting costs and generating profit. It's been a highly regarded company.

CRAFT: Analysts say the lasting damage of the Firestone recall, including litigation costs and lost market share, could be substantial. Bridgestone officials, meanwhile, who were unable for interviews, concede there were problems in their crisis management, say they're moving to strengthen control over the Firestone subsidiary. Lucy Craft, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Tokyo.

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.


09/27/2000: What's Ahead For The Fed?

SUSIE GHARIB: Just six more days until the men and women of the Federal Reserve meet for their next big policy meeting. What will they decide? BridgeNews came out with its latest poll from Fed watchers and our colleague from Bridge, Ed Kean, is here to tell us the results. Very timely to come out with this poll, Ed. Tell us what are the experts telling you for October 3rd at that meeting?

ED KEAN, CHIEF FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT, BRIDGENEWS: The analysts we polled think there's very little chance that the Fed will raise rates at the meeting next week. The analysts we polled gave the odds of a rate hike at that meeting at only six percent, which is a very, very tiny percentage.

GHARIB: Which had been the talk on Wall Street for a while now, but there's been a lot of speculation about that statement that accompanies the Fed announcement, what they're going to say about their bias going forward. What did you hear from the economists in your poll?

KEAN: That's the one element of suspense at this meeting. But most of the analysts we polled think that the Fed will continue to state that they think that higher inflation is the greater threat in the economy. A few analysts we had polled said that a few weeks ago they had thought there was a possibility the Fed might switch to a neutral bias, where it says the risks are evenly balanced between economic weakness and higher inflation. But the recent oil price surge and the inflation fears generated in the bond market as a result of that now make that very unlikely in the view of analysts, that the Fed would switch.

GHARIB: Well, after next week's meeting, a guessing game will begin about what's going to happen at the November 15th meeting after the November elections. What do you think will happen based on your poll?

KEAN: The analysts we polled think there's a somewhat greater chance that the Fed will raise rates at the November 15th meeting, but even there the odds are still pretty small, about a 21 percent rate hike at that meeting.

GHARIB: Ed, one thing that I found that was interesting in your poll was that there seems to be a division between what, you know, whether the Fed's next move will be a cut in interest rates or a hike. Tell us more about that.

KEAN: Well, an increasing number of analysts are saying that the next move could be a rate cut. They're still somewhat in the minority, but their number, the number of analysts holding that view is growing. But nonetheless, most of those analysts who predict a rate cut as the next move think that's more likely later next year. And so for the next six months, most of the analysts we polled think that the Fed is likely to leave rates steady.

GHARIB: All right, well, thank you very much for briefing us today.

KEAN: Thank you.

GHARIB: We've been speaking with Ed Kean, Chief Washington Financial Correspondent at 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.



09/27/2000: "Money File"-The Federal Budget Surplus

SUSIE GHARIB: In the money file tonight, what do gambling and the federal budget surplus have in common? With the answer, here's Terry Savage, author of "The Savage Truth On Money."

TERRY SAVAGE, AUTHOR, "THE SAVAGE TRUTH ON MONEY": Did you ever daydream about what you'd do if you won that $160 million lottery? Wait, scratch that, this is our sophisticated NBR audience. Let me rephrase the question. Did you ever daydream about what you'd do with the money if your little venture capital investment in a promising tech company ever went public, quintupled in value on the first day of trading and then was bought out for a huge premium by an international global telecom company? Maybe you're dreaming of a yacht or a private jet. It can't hurt to dream, can it? But you don't rearrange your life today to accommodate those dreams. Yet somehow that's what both contenders for the presidency are doing when they issue forth their plans for the predicted public surplus. Was it only eight years ago that Ross Perot stunned the nation with his flip charts, predicting we'd be buried in budget deficits as far as the eye could see? Back then even the Congressional Budget Office was predicting a $455 billion deficit for the year 2000. Now those same calculators are showing a surplus of $232 billion and the big debate is over how to spend the surpluses that are projected to balloon for the next decade. And what are the economic consequences of the actions we might take, whether through tax cuts or debt repayment? Our politicians are making a lot of plans for how to spend the surplus when we're still not very sure it will exist. In that way it is sort of like winning the lottery, fun to think about, but better to act when you have it in hand. I'm Terry Savage.

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.



09/26/2000: Paul Kangas' Wall Street Wrap Up

PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street showed little reaction to that durable goods report, but they did open moderately higher in what was widely viewed as a technical rebound from yesterday's steep 177-point tumble in the Dow Industrial Average and 52- point drop in the NASDAQ Index. About 20 minutes into the trading session, the Dow was up 37 points; the NASDAQ rose 60 points. But once again, buyers became wary that still more companies would warn of shortfalls in third-quarter results, like Eastman Kodak (EK) did yesterday. By 11:00 a.m. then, the Dow fell to a 27-point loss, and the NASDAQ Index was down six points. Renewed buying in some of the major tech stocks, like IBM (IBM), Hewlett-Packard (HWP), United Technologies (UTX ) and Intel (INTC) braced up the market a bit over the midday hours, enabling the Industrial Average to post a 27-point gain at 1:00 p.m. when the NASDAQ Index was up 25 points. The budding upturn was soon nipped in afternoon trading by a sell-off in the bond market, and the Dow Industrial Average stumbled to a closing loss of 2.96 points putting it at 10,628.36. In today's 99-point trading range, the Industrial Average closed down about 51 points from the best level of the session. The NASDAQ Composite finished with a loss of 32.80 at 3656.30. In its 128-point trading range, the Composite Index settled about 95 points below its best level of the day. Big board volume heavy, a 1.167 billion shares; up nicely from yesterday. And up volume exceeded down volume by about 52 million shares.

The Dow Transport Index was down just over 3 1/2.

But the Utility Index had a good gain of 2.82.

The Closing Tick slightly bearish at -209.

Standard & Poor's 500 down about 2/3s of a point.

The S&P 100 gained 1 3/4.

MidCap 400 Small Cap up 2.27 - no, it's not Small Cap, it's MidCap.

CRB Price Index was up .24.

And the New York Stock Exchange Composite gained nearly a point and a quarter.

Nearly a one-point loss in the Value Line.

Now - the Russell2000 Small Cap was down 1.76.

And the Wilshire 5000 was off a little over 19 1/4 points.

The bond market moved lower on news of that computer glitch which will result in a 0.1 percent upward revision in the nation's consumer price index for the last eight months through August of this year. The other major negative was word that the Republicans were threatening to stop the Clinton administration's planned release of oil from the Strategic Oil Reserve.

Although the sell-off in stocks prompted some buying, tax-free and corporates still ended down 1/8 point on average.

And except for the short maturities, the Treasury market closed lower.

5-year notes were up 1/32.

10-year notes down 4/32.

30-year bond down 21/32, with the yield at 5.90 percent.

And the Lehman Brothers Long-Term Treasury Bond Index gained nearly a point.

The poor old stock market kind of running on the rims at the close today after another early rally attempt failed, but down less than 3 points on the Dow. But the broader market actually higher by a 15 to 13 ratio. Interesting. Eighty-three new yearly highs, 111 new lows.

Southern Energy (SOE), a new issue today, began trading. It's a unit of Southern Company (SO). Fifty-eight million shares were offered at $22. The stock opened at $28.25 and traded as high as $29.25 then backed off just a little bit, but still, a very nice first day of trading.

Nortel Networks (NT) down $4.56.

Lucent Technologies (LU) down another $1.63.

Motorola (MOT) fell $1.13.

And Eastman Kodak (EK) losing another $1.81 a share after tumbling over $14 yesterday on the company's forecast of third quarter earnings shortfall. Traded as low as 39 3/4 today and Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, First Boston all made negative comments about Kodak.

Texas Instruments (TXN) was down $1.06.

AT & T (T) fell 34. I believe that's another new yearly low.

General Electric (GE) managed to gain $1.13.

Compaq Computer (CPQ) edged up $0.12.

Nokia (NOK) held steady at $40.88.

Becton Dickinson (BDX) rising $2.06. The company sees fourth quarter earnings coming in at $0.39. Now, that's below the $0.46 Street estimate. But Bear Stearns upgraded the stock from "neutral" to "buy" and that helped it.

ExxonMobil (XOM) up $2.50 a share. As I mentioned, the Republicans are threatening to stop the release of that oil from the strategic oil reserve and that could firm prices up again.

Dun & Bradstreet (DNB), now here's an interesting story. It's splitting into two companies.

Moody's (MCO), when issued today, began trading also. Moody's will be one of the companies. Moody's will be split off from D&B and it's going to be added to the Standard & Poor's 500 after the close Monday, replacing D&B. Of course, Moody's tracks corporate debt and assigns risk ratings to it and D&B provides credit, marketing and purchasing information on individuals and corporations.

But D&B will move from the S&P 500 to the S&P MidCap 400 after the close this Friday. Kind of an interesting story.

Hewlett-Packard (HWP) up $4.50. The best point gainer on the Dow. The company's comfortable with Wall Street earnings estimates for the fourth quarter of $1.03 a share.

And Sprint (FON) moved up $1.81 after CIBC World Markets Brokerage upgraded it from "hold" to "buy."

Acuson (CAN) up $7 a share. This company is in the medical equipment business. It's going to be acquired by Siemens for $23 a share cash.

APW Limited (APW) had a good day, up $6.63. The company came in with fourth quarter earnings of $0.50, way up from the Street estimate of $0.33 and up from last year's $0.41. Sales up a whopping 25 percent. First Boston upgraded it from "buy" to a "strong buy." The company is in the electronic manufacturing services business.

Summit Bancorp (SUB) up $3.75. Today's "Wall Street Journal" reports that the company might be acquired by Fleet Boston Financial and some analysts think it could fetch $40 a share.

Manufacturers' Services (MSV) the big loser of the day. The company is an electronics designer. It says it will not meet third quarter Street estimates of $0.26. It may be about $0.15 below that. The company blames the negative impact of foreign exchange.

Edison International (EIX), the big utility, down $3.19. The "Wall Street Journal" today says the company has lost so much money buying power in California's deregulated market that its deficit now equals one half of its net worth.

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) down $2.44. The company's CEO has filed to sell 250,000 shares.

NASDAQ trading, a loss of nearly 33 points. Volume heavy, 1.9 billion shares; 15 stocks up for every 24 down.

JDS Uniphase (JDSU) topped the active list, down 531.

Intel (INTC) managed to edge up $0.56.

Microsoft (MSFT) losing $2.06.

Cisco (CSCO) rose $2.13.

Yahoo! (YHOO) down $12.06. That's in sympathy with Priceline.com (PCLN). We'll see what happened there in a moment.

Sun Microsystems (SUNW) up 44.

SDL (SDLI) dropping $15 a share.

Oracle (ORCL) edged up $0.44.

Juniper Networks (JNPR) down $5.50.

And Applied Micro Circuits (AMCC) was up $4.94.

Here's a new issue, EDEN Bioscience (EDEN), which makes products to improve crops, 5.8 million shares offered at $15, opened at $24.09, th