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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Simba who wrote (67650)	9/13/1999 11:57:00 PM
From: John Dally	Respond to of 132070

From Bloomberg: Top Financial News Mon, 13 Sep 1999, 11:50pm EDT Fidelity's Stansky Raises Magellan Cash Holdings to Highest in 3 Years By Kathie O'Donnell Fidelity's Stansky Raises Magellan Cash to Highest in 3 Years Boston, Sept. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Fidelity Investments' flagship Magellan Fund raised the portion of its assets held in cash to the highest since Robert Stansky took over the world's biggest mutual fund more than three years ago. Stansky increased the fund's cash to 7.8 percent of its assets at the end of July from June's 6.9 percent. That represents about $1 billion more cash on hand for the fund, which has assets of $93.6 billion. It's more than double the 3.3 percent of assets held in cash at the start of the year. ``It may be an indication he's a little more cautious on the market,' said Nikolas Lanyi, editor of Fidelity Insight, a newsletter. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 3.2 percent in July, the second-biggest monthly decline this year, after gaining 5.4 percent in June. Stansky, who was given the helm of Magellan in June 1996, may be also be preparing for a rush of investor withdrawals related to year 2000 computer concerns. Stansky cut Magellan's holdings of U.S. stocks to 92.2 percent of assets from 93.1 percent. He pared high-technology stocks, particularly America Online Inc., and, Lanyi said, increased holdings of energy and industrial machinery companies. Two other of Fidelity's four biggest funds also increased their cash levels and cut their stock holdings, according to Fidelity's monthly asset-allocation statement. Contrafund's cash increased to 8.7 percent of assets from 8.1 percent, while its equity allocation fell to 89.3 percent from 90.1 percent. Puritan's cash rose to 4.7 percent from 2.9 percent, while equities dipped to 63.7 percent from 65.9 percent. At the Growth and Income fund, cash was cut to 5.7 percent of assets from 5.8 percent, while equity remained unchanged at 93.3 percent. Within Range ``These cash positions fall within the range of the cash positions that are generally held within the funds,' Fidelity spokeswoman Johanna K. Thornblad said. Cash percentages generally range from 3 to 10 percent of assets, she said. Stansky took over Magellan when its returns were flagging following a move into bonds by his predecessor Jeffrey Vinik. While he's focused on growth stocks, he has increased cash levels at times because of rapid inflows of investor money or slumping equity markets. Last year, cash levels rose to 7.6 percent in August from as low as 1.5 percent in May. As markets rebounded from a third-quarter rout, cash returned to 3.3 percent. Now that cash levels are back up, ``he's probably waiting for something to put that cash into,' said Lanyi. The biggest U.S. fund company may be increasing its cash levels to guard against a possible rush of withdrawals. The fund company's monthly report cited a survey by IBC Financial Data that 14.4 percent of mutual fund investors plan to withdraw money as the 2000 approaches and computer systems face possible problems distinguishing that date.