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Pastimes : The Naked Truth - Big Kahuna a Myth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MythMan who wrote (78102)	12/5/1999 7:26:00 PM
From: Lucretius	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 86076

i love the title -eg- Sunday December 5, 1:40 pm Eastern Time WALL ST WEEK AHEAD-The sky's the limit By Amy Collins NEW YORK, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Heading into one of the last full trading weeks of 1999 with major indices already at all-time highs, a growing legion of Wall Street bulls said they are ready to take the market even higher. ''We're nearing the end of the first century where man is no longer earthbound and a goodly number of stocks, particularly on Nasdaq, appear to be reaching for the stars as well,'' said Alan Ackerman, senior vice president and market strategist at Fahnestock and Co. ''There could well be some profit-taking next week,'' Ackerman said. ''But on balance, I'm looking for the market to hold its own. I'm looking for a good, strong year-end rally.'' The markets powered higher Friday after a benign November jobs report allayed inflation fears as the economy pushes toward its longest expansion in history. The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI - news) Friday was lurched upward by 247.12 points, or 2.24 percent, to 11,286.18. For the week, the index gained 297.27 points. ''For five months I've been saying 11,500 (for the Dow) by year's end, but right now that looks really conservative,'' said Alfred Goldman, technical analyst at A.G. Edwards and Sons in St. Louis. ''We could do that Monday.'' The Standard & Poor's 500 index (^SPX - news) jumped 24.26 points, or 1.72 percent, to a record high of 1,433.30 Friday, or 16.68 points for the week. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index (^IXIC - news) gained 67.85 points, or 1.97 percent, to close at 3,520.63, another all-time high. For the week, it was up 72.82 points. Earnings reports are expected this week from H.J Heinz Co. (NYSE:HNZ - news), Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR - news), National Semiconductor (NYSE:NSM - news), Autozone Inc. (NYSE:AZO - news) and Costco Wholesale Corp. (NasdaqNM:COST - news). ''The market will continue to trade to the upside (next week) with a very close eye to the macroeconomics. Now everybody is playing Fed policy-maker,'' said J. Thomas Madden, chief investment officer and executive vice president at Federated Investors Inc. in Pittsburgh. Third quarter productivity data will be released Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters expect a 4.8 percent increase, compared with 4.2 percent increase in the prior period. They expect a rise in per-unit labor costs of 0.2 percent, compared with a rise of 0.6 percent in the prior period. Friday the important producer price index for November is expected to show a rise of 0.3 percent, compared with a decline of 0.1 percent in the prior month. For the core rate, which excludes the volatile food and energy sectors, economists expect a rise of 0.1 percent, compared with a rise of 0.3 percent in the prior month. Analysts will sift though the economic data and speeches from Federal Reserve officials to determine if there is any inclination to raise interest rates at any of its upcoming meetings, the next of which comes December 21. In a Reuters poll conducted after the jobs report was released on Friday, 22 of the top 30 Wall Street firms forecast an interest rate hike in the first quarter of 2000. A month ago, only 15 or 29 were predicting an increase. Tuesday morning Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Robert Parry, who will become a voting member of the interest rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee in January, will speak on the role of the Federal Reserve in the economy. Wednesday afternoon Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Michael Moskow, a voting member of the FOMC, will speak on the impact of the economic expansion. ''There is no arguing with the momentum,'' said Gregory A. Nie, the technical analyst at First Union Securities Inc. in Chicago. ''If history is any guide, this market is starting to get extended to the upside.''