Program: Monday, October 27, 2003

Bank Of America To Merge With Fleet Boston
One On One With CEO Thomas Engibous of Texas Instruments
Robert Mittelstaedt, Vice Dean for Executive Education at Wharton On What Makes A Good Leader
Commentary: Freeing Trade
Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Market Stats

10/27/03: Bank Of America To Merge With Fleet Boston

SUSIE GHARIB: It was a Monday of mergers on Wall Street, with huge deals in the works worth a whopping $66 billion. The largest, Bank of America is buying FleetBoston Financial for $47 billion in stock. It's also the largest merger announced so far this year, and it will make Bank of America the second largest bank in the country in terms of assets. Scott Gurvey has details.

SCOTT GURVEY, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: For Bank of America, it is a logical step on the road to the goal of becoming America's first national bank. For FleetBoston, it is the logical conclusion of a strategy which has built the market leader in the nation's wealthiest region. Together they will dominate the American consumer banking market with 33 million customers, 5,700 branches and 9.8 percent of all U.S. bank deposits. That's nearly twice that of runner up Wells Fargo (WSF). When you add Bank of America's branches to those of FleetBoston's in the Northeast, they cover 29 states including almost all the major population centers. FleetBoston's Charles Gifford will be the Chairman of the merged company, which will keep the Bank of America name. BOA's Kenneth Lewis will be the Chief Executive, and he says his goal is to serve customers coast to coast.

KENNETH LEWIS, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, BANK OF AMERICA: If they have a need going from Boston to Atlanta, Georgia, or Miami, Florida or Los Angeles, California, and walk into one of our branches, we know them as if they were in their neighborhood in Boston. And I think that's a very attractive equation when you add the suite of products that we have.

CHARLES GIFFORD, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, FLEET BOSTON: It's increasingly clear to me there's going to be more consolidation in the banking industry. I wanted our company part of that consolidation with the very best company that I thought was out there.

GURVEY: The all stock deal values FleetBoston's shares at $45 based on Friday's closing prices. That's a 42 percent premium for Fleet shareholders.

JASON GOLDBERG, BANKING ANALYST: They got a bigger premium today than I think the company could have realized on its own over the next couple of years.

GURVEY: Lehman Brothers (LEH) has an investment banking relationship with Fleet. While Fleet's shares gained on the news, BOA's shares fell as investors considered short-term implications for the stock. The merger is not expected to add to earnings until 2005.

JOHN KLINE, BANKING ANALYST, SANDLER O'NEIL: We think for a couple of reasons. One, we think that Bank of America is stretched a little bit in terms of the 40 percent premium, give or take, that it offered for Fleet. We also didn't like that fact that it's a dilutive deal.

GURVEY: The premium paid for Fleet's shares could generate interest in other regional banking companies. Analysts say Keycorp (KEY), Comerica (CMA) and SunTrust (STI) are other possible takeover targets. Scott Gurvey, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, New York.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. 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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

10/27/03: One On One With CEO Thomas Engibous of Texas Instruments

SUSIE GHARIB: Texas Instruments was here at the New York Stock Exchange this morning celebrating an important milestone. CEO Thomas Engibous rang the opening bell to mark the 50th anniversary of Texas Instrument's listing on the big board. The semiconductor maker has lots to celebrate. Its stock is up 86 percent since the beginning of the year and earnings more than doubled in the third quarter. When I talked with Engibous earlier today, I asked him about the outlook for the rest of the year.

THOMAS ENGIBOUS, CEO, TEXAS INSTRUMENTS: We guided that our semiconductor business would be up in revenue somewhere between three and 12 percent. So while that's a wide range at this point in time, it does signify that the strength of the market and the DSP particularly driving broadband, driving wireless and driving digital consumer continues to look good.

GHARIB: Mr. Engibous, we have seen strong earnings for pretty much the whole semiconductor industry for the third quarter. Is the chip downturn over?

ENGIBOUS: Yes, we are in a recovery mode. When you look at the growth in electronics, historically it has been driven more by new functionality, not by macroeconomics. And the amount of new functionality that is coming into the market for consumers is probably at the highest level we've seen since the advent of the PC. So I think it's not a quarterly prediction, but if you look out, in a number of years ahead, we should see some growth rates continue, perhaps above historical growth rates.

GHARIB: A big part of your business is providing semiconductors and chips for the cell phones. How much more growth is there, there?

ENGIBOUS: There's still a lot of the world that has not even had the opportunity to make a phone call. But just as importantly, the cell phones that exist today are becoming data terminals. And, you know, you're seeing some of the camera phones come on with GPS and Blue Tube. You're going to see music players, video players. The cell phone is going to be the platform for the mobile Internet. And that is going to really converge a bit with the digital consumer electronics of today. So we perhaps are in the very early stages of what "this portable terminal" will look like a number of years down the road.

GHARIB: We've seen the price of cell phones drop dramatically. How much pricing power do you have?

ENGIBOUS: Well, I don't know if you'd call it pricing power. I mean the fact is, is that the price per processing unit and so forth will continue to come down. But the content of semiconductors per terminal will go up. So our actual dollars per phone have been on a path of increasing. So, for instance, even in a year, last year, when subscriber growth, I believe, was only in the six percent -- or terminal growth was only in the six percent range, our wireless business was up over 40 percent. It's because the content of silicon in a phone is going up quite dramatically.

GHARIB: Give us your thoughts about the outlook for the PC business.

ENGIBOUS: I think the fact is, is that the PC is going to continue to be a very important part of the electronics world. But it is going to grow at a slower rate than it did over the last decade and a half. And we have to recognize that. And the fact that it's so big, it does have a dampening effect on the overall growth rate of the electronics market.

GHARIB: So what products are you excited about for 2004?

ENGIBOUS: I'm excited about the digital consumer electronic devices, the ability to carry your music library in your hand and access a million songs remotely, the ability to play games remotely and watch movies and so forth in the palm of your hand. And I'm excited about what's happening in terms of broadband coming in to people's homes and then being wirelessly distributed around the home. Wi-fi hot spots, those are all areas that I think we're going to see the most growth opportunity in the near term.

GHARIB: We've seen that Texas Instruments' stock has had a very nice move up recently. How much more upside do you think there is?

ENGIBOUS: Our goal is to make sure we deliver the right products to the right customers in the right spaces. And I believe the spaces that we're in right now are the healthy growth areas. So we would expect to continue to grow, just as we have over the last two years, continue to grow at a faster rate than the market overall.

GHARIB: Mr. Engibous, thank you very much.

ENGIBOUS: Thank you, Susie.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. 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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

10/27/03: Robert Mittelstaedt, Vice Dean for Executive Education at Wharton On What Makes A Good Leader

SUSIE GHARIB: Joining me now to talk about what makes a good leader is Bob Mittelstaedt, Vice Dean for Executive Education at Wharton. Hi, Bob. Nice to have you here.

ROBERT MITTELSTAEDT, MANAGEMENT PROFESSOR, WHARTON SCHOOL: Hi, Susie.

GHARIB: Well, let's begin by talking about one of the characteristics of good leaders, and that is people who caused or influenced dramatic change in a company or industry. Tell us a little bit about the characteristics of leaders who are like that.

MITTELSTAEDT: Well, leaders that cause a dramatic shift in an industry are people who tend to see things a little earlier, a little quicker than others do. And these are trends that will become evident to everyone eventually, but these leaders are those who dig a little deeper, who talk to customers, who see things quicker and then they grab those ideas and they're persistent, even in the face of opposition in the early stages.

GHARIB: But what is it about these people who see these opportunities when others might instead, you know, don't see them or see more of the problems?

MITTELSTAEDT: Well, I think one of the things that they understand is that all industries go through cycles. And if you look at what's happened in the last 25 years, since we're talking about that time period, one of the most consistent themes over the last 25 years has been this economy's ability to generate higher quality at lower prices for consumers and businesses. And that's happened in virtually ever sector. So these leaders understand that that happens and instead of simply going with the flow, improving the existing business, they want to take a quantum leap and go someplace else.

GHARIB: How much of it do you think is really luck and how much of it is true skill?

MITTELSTAEDT: Well, a comment attributed to Pasteur many years ago was that half of scientific discovery is by chance, but chance favors the prepared mind. And I think that's true of people who really change industries and businesses. They think about it so much that it becomes ingrained in their psyche, and then they see these things because they have been thinking so deeply about what's really going on, as opposed to the mechanics of execution.

GHARIB: And I guess -- you talk about seeing these things. You have to have a vision, obviously, but you also have to be able to articulate this to people and be persuasive to get them to join you, you know, in the cause, even though the resources might not be there.

MITTELSTAEDT: Absolutely. One of the keys to success in any business is to be able to articulate a vision, because you can't underestimate how much the people that you work with need to see where they're going. They need to get beyond what am I doing in my job today and understand how that fits in the bigger picture. And these leaders are people who are very successful, very good at, that although they may do it in different ways.

GHARIB: Any examples come to mind of who fits this description?

MITTELSTAEDT: Well, I think certainly the one that we're all familiar with because it's been so visible is Herb Kelleher's success at Southwest Airlines (LUV) over the years. And he is a charismatic guy who has become an icon within his industry, within his company, that people just get excited being around. But there are other people that are less charismatic who seem to do well with a different style and a different kind of focus.

GHARIB: Well, we're going to be looking forward to what you an your colleagues at Wharton come up with as our final selection of the 25 most influential. Thanks a lot, Bob.

MITTELSTAEDT: Thanks, Susie.

GHARIB: We've been speaking with Bob Mittelstaedt of the Wharton School.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. 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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

10/27/03: Commentary: Freeing Trade

SUSIE GHARIB: Tonight's commentator is talking trade. Here's Bradford DeLong, Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley.

JAMES BRADFORD DELONG: It is supposed to be hard to make progress toward freer trade when Democrats hold the White House. Labor unions contribute an awesome share of resources to Democratic campaigns and America's labor unions believe that freer trade destroys their jobs and is not their friend. It is supposed to be easier to make trade freer when Republicans hold the White House. The down sides of trade, displaced workers and shuttered, no longer competitive old factories, they aren't the Republicans' core concerns. Their core concerns are the new funded foreign factories and the booming high tech and leading edge industrial exports that free trade expands. Republicans are supposed to focus on the creation of wealth, on growing the pie. Democrats are supposed to focus on the distribution of wealth, reslicing the pie to diminish extremes of wealth and poverty and make sure that children don't grow up robbed of real equality of opportunity. But our current bunch of Republicans in office don't seem to have read their script. Steel tariffs, blocks to agricultural imports, an unwillingness to seriously negotiate at WTO meetings at Cancun and elsewhere, and now the public relations blaming of China for unemployment, none of these are intended to or, in fact, will grow America's and the world's wealth. We would all be much happier if this administration were to recover its bearings on trade. It still has at least 13 months to run, after all, and its successor may well be as little inclined toward freer trade as it is. I'm Brad DeLong.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. 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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

10/27/03: "Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News"

PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened broadly higher with that burst of takeover activity bolstering bullish enthusiasm because it implied stocks were still attractive at current levels. After an hour of trading, the Dow was up 65 points and the NASDAQ Composite rose about 20. Another positive was news of a stronger than expected 3.6 percent rise in September existing home sales, to a new record high, as low mortgage rates kept demand strong. At mid session, the Dow was still up 52 points and the NASDAQ posted a 14 point gain. Merger fever cooled off a bit this afternoon and buyers backed away somewhat. But the Dow Jones Industrial average still hung on to gain nearly 25 3/4 points, putting it at 9,608.16. The NASDAQ Composite ended 17 1/3 points higher, at 1,882.91. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed up 2.22, at 1,031.13. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 3/32, to 99 29/32, putting the yield at 4.26 percent.

But things didn't get worse on Wall Street today. In fact, they got a bit better, as we'll see in our stocks in the news tonight.

The most active big board issue on 41.4 million shares, FleetBoston Financial (FBT), up $7.40. That's a 23 percent rise. And, of course, it'll be acquired for about a half a share of Bank of America.

But because Bank of America's (BAC) stock fell $8.29 today, that deal is worth about $41 a share for FleetBoston shareholders as of tonight's close.

AT&T Wireless (AWE) in with a $0.10 loss.

Lucent (LU) moved up $0.09.

SBC Communications (SBC), a $0.54 drop, fifth in big board volume.

Anthem was down $6.21. As you heard, it's going to acquire Wellpoint for $23.80 a share cash plus one share of Anthem's stock. As of tonight's close, that deal is worth about $95 a share to Wellpoint shareholders today, and that stock moved up $7.16.

Citigroup (C) was down $0.76.

Tenth in big board volume, First Data (FDC), down $1.14 a share.

American Express (AXP), one of the down stocks, down $0.87. This afternoon, the company reported third quarter earnings $0.59, a $0.01 better than expected, and up from $0.52 last year. Revenues up nine percent. So that was not quite up to some expectations, and the stock fell just a bit.

Another Dow stock, International Paper (IP), down $0.44. It came in with lower third quarter earnings, $0.25, down from last year's $0.30.

And still another Dow stock, Procter & Gamble (PG) edged up $0.74. First quarter earnings out today, $1.26 a share, a $0.01 above the Street estimate and up nicely from $1.03 a year ago. Revenues up a respectable 13 percent and the company sees second quarter revenues up 19 percent. The company also mentioned its acquisition of Germany's Wella Corp. is going just fine.

As you heard earlier, Mid Atlantic Medical Services (MME) is going to be taken over by UnitedHealth Group (UNH). It's $18 a share in cash plus about $43 worth of UnitedHealth's stock. And as of today, that deal, at tonight's close, worth about $61 a share to Mid Atlantic shareholders. The stock reflecting that nicely.

America West Holdings (AWA) up $0.87 a share. The company is in a tentative new three year labor contract with its pilots.

And then Univa (UNA) having a good day, up $1.78. The company is in industrial technology and it reported a third quarter loss of $0.02, but nowhere near as bad as the Street estimate for a $0.13 per share loss. The stock reacted positively.

Aluminum Corporation of China (ACH) moving up sharply, $7.88. The company is increasing its alumina spot sales price by 12 percent. That ought to help the bottom line of that corporation.

Nam Tai Electronics (NTE) a nice move up, $3.34. Third quarter earnings higher, $0.23 versus last year's $0.19, and sales jumped 64 percent. In addition to that, the company will pay a 10 percent stock dividend, a special $0.80 per share cash dividend, along with its regular $0.05 quarterly cash dividend. A lot of good news there today.

Nacco Industries (NC) up $8.25. The company manufactures lift trucks and housewares, among other things. After the close Friday, third quarter earnings were strong, $1.43, up from the previous year's $0.98 a share.

And Banknorth Group (BNK) moved up $1.42 on takeover speculation after Bank America's buyout of FleetBoston. And that helped a lot of the regional banks. Look at the sector.

Coamerica (CMA) up $3.25.

Keycorp (KEY) rising $0.80.

Nice gains in PNC Financial (PNC) and Sovereign Bancorp (SOV).

Resmed (RMD), one of the few prominent losers, down $2.45. Bank America's brokerage downgraded the stock from "neutral" to "sell."

The NASDAQ's most active issue, Microsoft (MSFT), moving up $0.30.

Followed by Intel (INTC), a $0.34 gain there.

Amgen (AMGN) down $0.64.

Cisco (CSCO) a $0.13 gain.

And Sina Corp. (SINA), one of those Chinese Internet portal companies, up $1.42. They have been very volatile.

Dell (DELL) moved up $0.08.

A similar gain for Applied Materials (AMAT).

Ebay (EBAY) rose $0.93.

Yahoo! (YHOO) a $0.64 gain.

Nextel Communications (NXTL) up $0.28, tenth in dollar volume on NASDAQ.

Checkfree (CKFR) up $2.13. The company is an electronic processing business and Bank America owns an 8.4 percent stake and does a lot of business with the firm. And that'll no doubt increase with Bank America's acquisition of FleetBoston.

And then Click Commerce (CKCM), look at that move, up $1.50, or almost 41 percent. The company's Chairman and CEO, Michael Ferro, Jr. is raising his stake in the company by 200,000 shares, or 2.4 percent. The company is involved with the development of business to business software products.

And those are the stocks in the news tonight.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. 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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

10/27/03: Market Stats

			     
                              
                                      NET    PERCENT
                         CLOSE     CHANGE     CHANGE
DOW CLOSE              9608.16     +25.70       + .3
HIGH                                         9663.79
LOW                                          9584.54

NASDAQ COMP.           1882.91     +17.32        +.9
HIGH                                         1890.66
LOW                                          1873.62

VOLUME                                       1,356.5
PREVIOUS                                     1,430.2
UP VOLUME                                      862.4
DOWN VOLUME                                    482.5

DOW TRANSPORTS         2841.39     +14.14       + .5
DOW UTILITIES           252.17       -.57       - .2
CLOSING TICK                                    +403

S&P 500                1031.13      +2.22       + .2
S&P 100                 510.77       -.48       - .1
MIDCAP 400              537.01      +4.84       + .9
REUTERS/CRB             249.34      unch.      unch.

NYSE COMPOSITE         5870.18     +19.04       + .3
VALUE LINE              333.63      +3.51       1.06
RUSSELL 2000            515.35      +8.92       1.76
WILSHIRE 5000         10027.22     +43.72       0.44

U.S. TREASURIES
5-YEAR NOTE 3.125%
Oct. 15,2008          99 23/32      -5/32       3.19

10-YEAR NOTE 4.25%
Aug. 15,2013          99 29/32      -3/32       4.26

30-YEAR NOTE 5.375%
Feb. 15, 2031        103 13/32      -8/32       5.14

LEHMAN BROS.
LONG BOND INDEX        1720.23    -8.31


DOW CLOSE              9608.16     +25.70       + .3
ADVANCES                                        2169
DECLINES                                        1049
NEW HIGHS                                        195
NEW LOWS                                          10

                                      NET    PERCENT
NYSE MOST ACTIVES    4PM CLOSE     CHANGE     CHANGE
FBF    FleetBoston Finl  39.20      +7.40      +23.3
BAC    Bank Of America   73.57      -8.29      -10.1
AWE    AT&T Wireless      7.15       -.10       -1.4
LU     Lucent Tech        2.75       +.09       +3.4
SBC    SBC Comms         23.48       +.54       +2.4
ATH    Anthem            71.05      -6.21       -8.0
NT     Nortel Networks    4.28       +.13       +3.1
WLP    Wellpoint Health  91.09      +7.16       +8.5
C      Citigroup         46.70       -.76       -1.6
FDC    First Data Corp   35.21      -1.14       -3.1

NASDAQ CLOSE           1882.91    + 17.32       + .9
VOLUME                                       1,519.7
PREVIOUS                                     1,958.0
ADVANCES                                        2081
DECLINES                                        1091

NASDAQ ACTIVES
MSFT   Microsoft         26.91       +.30       +1.1
INTC   Intel             31.42       +.34       +1.1
AMGN   Amgen             60.83       -.64       -1.0
CSCO   Cisco Systems     19.93       +.13        +.7
SINA   Sina Corp         43.42      +1.42       +3.4
DELL   Dell Inc          36.08       +.08        +.2
AMAT   Applied Matl      20.72       +.07        +.3
EBAY   eBay              55.87       +.93       +1.7
YHOO   Yahoo!            41.17       +.64       +1.6
NXTL   Nextel Comms      22.37       +.28       +1.3

AMEX CLOSE             1021.18      + .41       + .0

INDEX SHARES
DIA    DIAMONDS TRUST    96.29       +.11        +.1
QQQ    NASDAQ 100        34.21       -.02        -.1
SPY    S&P DEP.RECEIPTS 103.63       +.05        +.1

STOCKS IN THE NEWS
AXP    American Express  46.75       -.87       -1.8
IP     Intl Paper Co     38.00       -.44       -1.1
PG     Procter & Gamble  96.80       +.74        +.8
MME    Mid Atlantic      59.62      +5.74      +10.7
AWA    America West Hldg 13.00       +.87       +7.2
UNA    Unova             19.55      +1.78      +10.0
ACH    Aluminum China    52.10      +7.88      +17.8
NTE    Nam Tai Electron  36.54      +3.34      +10.1
NC     Nacco Inds        79.25      +8.25      +11.6
BNK    Banknorth Group   29.51      +1.42       +5.1
CMA    Comerica          50.17      +3.25       +6.9
KEY    Keycorp           27.69       +.80       +3.0
PNC    PNC Finl Svc      52.75      +1.96       +3.9
SOV    Sovereign Bancrp  20.07      +1.04       +5.5
RMD    Resmed            42.60      -2.45       -5.4
CKFR   CheckFree Corp    27.90      +2.13       +8.3
CKCM   Click Commerce    5.19       +1.50      +40.7