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To: t2 who wrote (11398)	7/28/1999 8:37:00 AM
From: MeDroogies	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 19079

You know, that is my gut feeling. However, I haven't seen any evidence that this is really the case. My best guess about Oct-Dec is that you MAY be right...MF's are sitting on a lot of cash, and if the market stabilizes by then, they'll go heavily into it (Y2K be damned! They know its a chimera). Still, there is the likelihood they will jump more deeply into cash...but who knows?

To: t2 who wrote (11398)	7/28/1999 9:58:00 AM
From: Bipin Prasad	Respond to of 19079

I am guessing that the Y2K worry related selloff is going to happen early. Everyone want to rush to the exits ahead of the next guy. Maybe that is why the market selloffs have occured right in the middle of positive earnings announcements. The experts have been surprised how this selloff occurred even with good earnings reports. It is a race to the exits. No, it's not Y2K yet. It's seasonal sell off in techs. Every year we have summer sell off in high tech around this time on low volume and you'll see serious up ticks on high volume around end of Aug when fund managers come back from vacations. Most Y2K is history in most companies as of Jun. They will be allowed to install upgrades during 2nd half of '99. ORCL is well positioned to harvest the benefit. re: There might be small investors' sell off in Nov in the name of y2k fear to keep gains, but that will be great buying opportunity. Most funds managers know who is/is not Y2K ready by now. Most of them are not that dumb. ^_^ ps: Good luck with your shorting. One can make good $$$ from shorting when timing is right. later, InSook Prasad

To: t2 who wrote (11398)	7/28/1999 12:03:00 PM
From: Bipin Prasad	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19079

SEC: Brokers must be Y2K-ready by Nov. 15 Noncompliant firms will be asked to close MARCY GORDON ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON Federal securities regulators will go to court starting Dec. 1 to shut down brokerage firms that are not ready for the Year 2000, under new rules adopted Tuesday. In a 5-0 vote, the Securities and Exchange Commission set a target date of Aug. 31 for brokerage firms to complete their Year 2000 compliance efforts but allow additional time for unprepared firms to show that they will be ready no later than Nov. 15. ''Any firm that cannot achieve Y2K compliance in a timely fashion will be required to cease doing business by Dec. 1,'' SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt said before the vote. ''A few firms' lack of readiness could have adverse consequences for countless others,'' Levitt said. ''We simply cannot allow firms to continue to operate if they threaten the integrity of the system, or if they are not able to assure customers' access to their funds and securities.'' Richard Walker, the agency's enforcement director, said the regulators would go into federal courts starting Dec. 1 seeking injunctions that would force the unprepared brokerage firms to cease operations and notify their customers. He said the regulators expect they will only have to go after ''a few'' problem firms. The SEC estimates that only 1 percent or so of the 3,900 brokerage firms covered by the new rules won't be ready by Aug. 31 for the millennial date change. Most major broker-dealers in the Twin Cities have told the SEC that they have assessed their systems and have begun fixing any problems and testing for readiness. Among those are American Express Financial Advisors, Dain Rauscher Inc., U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, Norwest Investment Services Inc., Fortis Investors Inc., Lutheran Brotherhood Securities Corp., Washington Square Securities Inc., John G. Kinnard & Co., Miller Johnson & Kuehn, R.J. Steichen & Co., Miller & Schroeder Financial Inc. and Ascend Financial Services. Representatives of the Securities Industry Association and the National Association of Securities Dealers weren't immediately available for comment on the new rules. Concerns about the Jan. 1, 2000, date stem from the fact that some computer systems may read only the last two digits of a four-digit year and interpret the year 2000 as 1900, potentially wreaking havoc on financial transactions. The new rules also apply to the 600 or so securities transfer agents that are not banks. Transfer agents are responsible for keeping records of shareholders of corporations and for issuing or canceling stock certificates when shares are bought and sold. The SEC has said failure of transfer agents to anticipate and fix Year 2000 computer problems could seriously disrupt corporations' dividend payments and other transactions with their shareholders. Only a small proportion of the agent companies, also around 1 percent, are expected to be unprepared. The market watchdog agency also requires mutual fund companies and publicly traded corporations to disclose their readiness. In the federal government's first major enforcement action related to the Year 2000 problem, the SEC charged 37 relatively small brokerage firms last October with failing to fully disclose the state of their computer readiness. Some of the firms agreed to settle the charges by promising to refrain from such violations in the future, being censured and paying civil penalties ranging from $5,000 to $25,000. In January, the SEC accused nine transfer agents of allegedly failing to adequately disclose their readiness. Five of the agent companies settled the charges and four contested them.