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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: taxman who wrote (24903)	6/25/1999 6:36:00 AM
From: t2	Respond to of 74651

calls are cheap (less implied volatility)--risk reward not good. That is why i have been buying call options (and planning some more buys if the opportunity arises). In addition, those settlement talks stories coming out of the WSJ, could also provide a pop in the volatility. quote.bloomberg.com Microsoft, Justice Department Met to Seek Settlement, WSJ Says Redmond, Washington, June 25 (Bloomberg) - Microsoft Corp. and Justice Department officials secretly met to search for a way to settle the company's antitrust suit, the interactive edition of the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation. The meeting took place at the Justice Department three weeks ago between William Neukom, Microsoft's general counsel, Joel Klein, the Justice Department's antitrust chief, and senior state officials. The meeting, which didn't produce a breakthrough, though ''the dialogue is going to continue,'' and the sides agreed to meet again, the newspaper said. The government concluded its ground-breaking antitrust trial against Microsoft yesterday, leaving a federal judge to decide whether the government proved the software giant is an illegal monopolist. (The Wall Street Journal 6/25 www.wsj.com) NYSE/AMEX delayed 20 min. NASDAQ delayed 15 min

To: taxman who wrote (24903)	6/25/1999 8:38:00 AM
From: John F. Dowd	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 74651

taxman: You must therefore think that the market is going to move upward rather rapidly. The fact that the price is so "low: is that the volatility portion of same has diminished and therefore the market feels that there will not be any explosive upward movement in the stock. If the market is right then selling out of the money calls nets one a premium as they expire worthless. By your response you seem to endorse the concept that it is not worth the risk as the MSFT will rise rapidly and result in your calls working against you. I hope you are right but this market seems to be focused on the Fed and is much like a deer frozen in the headlights of AG's speeding car. JFD P.S. If you are a taxman let me lean on your expertise. Does one have to pay capital gains currently to avoid tax penalties. Or since one doesn't know until the end of the year what the final outcome of their capital gains acct. will be can they pay those taxes if and when there are any to be paid at that time? I have a lot of very long term gains and am interested to know if there is a tax timing thing to consider when cashing out.