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To: Ed Forrest who wrote (24043)	6/25/1999 3:10:00 PM
From: DOUG H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 41369

Tell Maria to PUMP THIS> U.S. Economy's Growth Is Boosting Earnings-OOooooh bad news (NOT) Lee: Dang more baaaaad news (NOT).<vbg> ============================ By Deborah Stern U.S. Stocks Rise as Corporate Profit Growth Accelerates New York, June 25 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks rose after a report showed first-quarter profits rose almost 50 percent faster than previously estimated with little sign of inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose for the first time this week. ............ ''People think this economy still has a lot of juice in it, so you'd better buy now,'' said Alan Day, who helps oversee about $4 billion at Stratevest Group in Burlington, Vermont, with 70 percent stocks and 30 percent bonds. ....... With investors leaving early on a summer Friday, some 378 million shares changed hands on the Big Board by 1:30 p.m., about 10 percent lower than at the same time on the Friday before the Memorial Day holiday weekend. .......... Copper prices slumped to their lowest level in 12 years in March as consumption growth slowed and mining companies increased copper output in Latin America, where production costs are lower. After-tax profits rose 6.2 percent in the first quarter, previously estimated as a 4.3 percent gain, after falling 1 percent in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said. Profits in the fourth quarter were depressed by the costs to tobacco companies of their health-care settlement with the U.S. government last year. The report contained little to suggest that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates by more than the 50 basis points the market is expecting by the end of the year. The Federal Open Market Committee, which meets Tuesday and Wednesday, said after its last meeting that it was leaning toward raising interest rates to head off inflation. Abby Cohen Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategist Abby Joseph Cohen told Bloomberg Television next week's likely interest-rate increase by the Federal Reserve is already reflected in stock prices. The U.S. economy shows no signs of overheating and companies are showing strong increases in quarterly earnings, she said. ''Federal Reserve action will not be harmful to the stock market,'' although a temporary decline is possible in the aftermath of the news, she said. ''To the extent that the Federal Reserve convinces folks that they're focusing on inflation and taking actions to ensure that the (economic) cycle lasts as long as possible, it could be helpful.'' Analysts expect the best showing from second-quarter earnings since the start of 1997. Companies in the S&P 500 will probably report an 11.7 percent increase in second-quarter profits, up from a 3.5 percent gain in the year-earlier period, according to the average forecast of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. Consumers were more upbeat about their finances and economic prospects in June than they were last month, according to a University of Michigan study on consumer sentiment. ''The economy is healthy and robust -- and there is no sign of slowing,'' said Astrid Adolfson, an economist at MCM MoneyWatch in New York. Compliments of DELL thread.. D.H.