Tuesday, April 20, 1999
Markets
It's just like in those
Friday the Thirteenth
movies: Don't turn your back on tech until you're sure it's dead.
Big tech and Internet stocks snapped back nicely today from the previous session's horror show. The
Nasdaq Composite Index
jumped 64.16 to 2409.77, and
TheStreet.com Internet Sector
added 35.14 to close at 595.95. Cyclical weakness kept the
Dow Jones Industrial Average
on shallow positive ground. The Dow gained 8.02 to 10,448.55. The
S&P 500
garnered 16.69 to 1306.17, while the small-cap
Russell 2000
rose 2.93 to 415.34.
In other U.S. markets news, the
Chicago Board of Trade's
27-member board of directors yesterday gave CBOT President Thomas R. Donovan a vote of confidence, one week after Chairman David P. Brennan began a campaign to oust him.
Major European indices finished sharply lower, while Asian markets were mixed overnight. Japan's
Nikkei
gained 22.90 to 16,697.11, but Hong Kong's
Hang Seng
gave back all of yesterday's big gains and more, falling 356.66 to 12,409.78.
For more markets action and news, click
here.
Companies
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
set a 3-for-2 stock split this morning.
First Union
(FTU)
CEO Ed Crutchfield today told shareholders that the company is still considering a West Coast expansion. Crutchfield said that "there are one or two large financial institutions on the West Coast who conceivably we could get together with."
A plan may be afoot to rescue
Long Term Capital Management
from its rescuers. A group including
Goldman Sachs
co-Chairman
Jon Corzine
, Long Term Capital founder John Meriwether and 13 Long Term Capital partners are in the early stages of putting together a bid for the $4.8 billion hedge fund, according to London's
Financial Times
.
Lehman Brothers
(LEH)
unit
Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking Partners
is buying industrial and sporting equipment manufacturer
Blount International
(BLT.A)
for about $1.35 billion. After the deal, Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking and Blount's management will own about 90% of the company, with the remainder to be held by current shareholders.
For more news on companies and stocks, click
here.
Tech
Salon Internet
, operator of the Web magazine
Salon.com
and the discussion forum
Table Talk
, has filed to raise up to $33.8 million in an IPO. The offering will be a Dutch auction, run by lead underwriter
W.R. Hambrecht
.
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Report
reported first-quarter earnings of 35 cents a share, beating the 21-analyst
First Call
consensus by 3 cents a share.
For more tech news and commentary, click
here.
General News
The specter of a widening Balkan conflict was raised again today when, according to Croatia's
United Nations
representative, hundreds of Yugoslav soldiers entered the demilitarized zone around the Croatian peninsula of Prevlaka, an area hotly disputed by Croatia and Yuguslavia.
The
Commerce Department
released figures showing that the U.S. trade deficit increased to a record $19.44 billion in February, more than 15% higher than last month's record figure and more than $2.5 billion above economists' forecasts.
Russia has defaulted again: First Deputy Finance Minister
Mikhail Kasyanov
today said that Russia will not be able to pay $1.3 billion due holders of
Ministry of Finance
bonds, known as MinFins.
International
Merger talks continue today between the boards of
Telecom Italia
(TI)
and
Deutsche Telekom
(DT) - Get Report
.
TSC
German Correspondent
Marc Young
looked at the deal's pitfalls this morning.
More fat-trimming under the rising sun: Japanese long-distance telecom
KDD
set plans to cut 2,000 jobs and reduce its board to 10 from 32 members.
For more international news and commentary, click
here.
In the Papers
The
Chicago Tribune
today continues its coverage of the
Comdex Trade Show
, where
Linux
creator
Linus Torvalds
went on the offensive against Microsoft chief
Bill Gates
.
The Dallas Morning News
reports on the recent fortune of Dallas exploration and production company
Triton Energy
(OIL) - Get Report
, whose stock skyrocketed yesterday on rumors of a
BP Amoco
(BPA)
takeover. Triton was lately down 1/8 to 11 3/16.
The Globe and Mail
takes a look at the difficulties facing the
Toronto Stock Exchange
after its president, Rowland Fleming, abruptly announced his retirement yesterday.
Elsewhere
Ventriloquist
Wenceslao Moreno
-- known to millions of
Ed Sullivan Show
viewers as both
Senor Wences
and
Pedro
, the least adorned hand-puppet in the history of puppeteering -- died today at his home in New York City at the age of 103.
Ah, kids will do the darnedest things. Unfortunately, they'll keep doing them if you don't put your foot down early on. The
Associated Press
reports that 9-year-old Kevin Inciyaki's lifelong obsession with trash -- evident from his photo album of "garbage trucks of the world" -- now has him running a worm farm for a
University of California at Los Angeles
waste management survey. Kevin's mother explained, "It's been garbage since he was 2 years old."
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