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To: long-gone who wrote (35675)	6/22/1999 8:10:00 AM
From: Rarebird	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116836

They don't call it a Bull Market For Nothing: Does your broker drink expensive champagne from ruby red slippers? Do Cape Cods in your town sell for $1.2 million? Are the kids at the local elementary school trading hedge-fund manager cards? In his new book, a Money writer says these could be signs of a correction to come. By Walter Updegrave If you don't want to spend your free time poring over market statistics, there is another way of gauging whether stock prices are getting frothy. Just look around you. Here are five real-life indicators that stock-market bulls might be pushing stock prices to unsustainable levels: 1. Wall Street pros are spending their money especially lavishly: As a bull market climbs to a crescendo, investment advisers, brokers and other Wall Street pros begin raking in huge, almost obscene, amounts of money. With all that money sloshing around, some of it inevitably finds its way into what I can only describe as dubious projects. For example, one investment adviser devoted an entire page of his monthly newsletter to a detailed account of his latest home-improvement project--installing a heated driveway that would automatically melt ice and snow. It was quite an undertaking involving underground heating elements that would kick in at different times, and carefully re-grading portions of the driveway so the melted runoff from one area wouldn't re-freeze on another section. As I read his account, I couldn't help but think back to the excesses that preceded the 1987 crash. 2. More shops pop up that cater to frivolous needs: President Reagan's trickle-down theory was roundly criticized in the 1980s. But in cities where the brokerage industry has a strong presence, there is such an effect when the Wall Street money machine is whirring along at high speed. Retailers and other merchants catch the unmistakable scent of huge amounts of discretionary dollars being spent and open up ventures that would never fly on Main Street USA. In New York City, for example, a company called The Art of Shaving operates two stores on Manhattan's east side where customers can enjoy a "Royal" shave for $45-or buy their own shaving accouterments, including a $280 silvertip badger brush for $280 or a horn-handle razor with deluxe stainless steel blade for $280. By the way, The Art of Shaving's second store was opened just two months before the Dow plunged 554-points on October 27, 1997. Coincidence? 3. House prices get bid up to ridiculous levels: The Wall Street crowd that inflates stock prices by plowing billions of dollars into a relative handful of well-known stocks exercises pretty much the same herd mentality when deciding where to buy their homes. So when you see 2,500-square-foot four-bedroom Colonials with no apparent charm in towns like Greenwich, Connecticut and Bedford, New York fetching upwards of $500,000 to $1.5 million--or roughly two to five times what they would cost in less desirable suburbs--you've got to wonder if a market top isn't too far off. 4. Wall Streeters "Party Down" For Christmas: Annual Christmas or holiday parties are an institution on Wall Street--and the higher the stock market climbs, the more lavish the bash is likely to be. In December of 1996, for example, in the wake of a 60% rise in stock prices over the previous 24 months, a New York Times article described several Wall Street Christmas parties, including one that featured $190 bottles of Cristal champagne and another 500-person soiree for which flowers alone cost $40,000. When investment firms feel flush enough to spend upwards of $400 per person for self congratulatory Christmas celebrations, you know that a Scrooge of a market correction could be lurking somewhere. 5. Power Suspenders Make a Comeback: During the roaring bull market of the 1980s, zany suspenders were the height of sartorial splendor for investment bankers and stock broker-wannabe-investment bankers. (Extra-wide numbers in fire-engine red or decorated with bulls wrestling bears were popular.) Aside from the obvious ostentation of 20- and 30-year-olds wearing suspenders (and the added pretension of calling them "braces"), this fashion trend represented an astounding arrogance: Wall Street pros obviously felt that they could dress like clowns, yet people would still give them their money to invest. Of course, the 1987 crash snapped the suspender craze. But Wall Street has a notoriously short memory. As the market climbs to ridiculous heights, investment bankers and brokers might again go into their closets and emerge with their power suspenders. If they do, take it as a sure sign that irrational optimism is outrunning good sense on Wall Street, and brace yourself for a market setback. pathfinder.com

To: long-gone who wrote (35675)	6/22/1999 8:39:00 AM
From: John Hunt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116836

De Beers first half gem sales leap 44 pct << Diamond giant De Beers said on Tuesday that sales of rough diamonds in the first half of 1999 totalled $2.447 billion, up 43.9 percent on the year ago period. The sharp recovery reflects improving confidence in cutting centres which has allowed the group's Central Selling Organisation (CSO) to increase sales progressively during the first half of the year. >> biz.yahoo.com Where De Beers goes, gold should follow. :-))