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To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (46148)	12/20/1999 7:04:00 AM
From: Alex	Respond to of 116782

MILLENNIUM FOR THE MARKETS? DON'T BET ON IT by JOHN CRUDELE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOME of my colleagues in the financial press -- relying on sources who have a lot to gain -- have determined in recent weeks that neither the sharply rising price of oil nor the burgeoning money supply matter any more. In fact, pundits on Wall Street and in Washington have sold many of my associates on the idea that just about nothing matters anymore. The massive trade deficit of $25.94 billion in October? It doesn't matter. Rising interest rates? They don't matter. Insane valuations on companies that won't earn a penny? Doesn't matter. In fact, let's just take the shortcut. Nothing matters anymore. Nothing will ever push the stock market lower again, according to the Wall Street stooges and their mouthpieces who pass this amazing news on to investors. I'm taking a couple of weeks off so I can tidy up my Y2K bomb shelter, but before I leave I'd like to leave a few thoughts for the new year. First, all the things that mattered before still matter. And, second, even if the Wall Street spin machine has investors thinking a certain way right now, the economic fundamentals that have always been important to the financial markets will ultimately be the only thing that is important. This notion that somehow things are different today is -- how can I put this delicately? -- total crap. Let's backtrack for a second. I said a few weeks ago that Wall Street was in a good position to further inflate the stock market bubble in December. That was mainly because the Fed would be Y2K-ing itself into a very market-friendly position. So far, that's exactly what has been happening. Led by many arguably worthless Nasdaq issues, stock prices have done nicely. And stocks should continue on that track for the next week or so. The bubble lives. Nothing bad will happen. Except that the Federal Reserve is so panicked about something -- the oncoming millennium or some other factor it isn't sharing with us -- that the money supply has been expanded rapidly in recent weeks. More rapidly, in fact, than ever before. And except for the fact that this will lead to enormous inflation fears in the weeks ahead, there is nothing to worry about. None of this matters, the apologists say. My gullible colleagues, like those in Friday's Wall Street Journal, excuse this incredibly inflationary Fed behavior by repeating the Wall Street mantra that "Fed officials used to pay more attention to trends in money supply." In other words, (chant with me, here), "It doesn't matter anymore." There are a lot of other bad things that could happen, which, luckily, don't matter anymore, either. Oil prices have been rising steadily for months. And private surveys show that this will soon start raising the price of everything we buy and do. But ask yourself this. If oil prices don't matter, why is U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson even bothering to complain that prices are too high? And, more interesting, why is he threatening to sell strategic government oil reserves to bring energy prices down -- a major move. And if the trade deficit doesn't matter, why is the Clinton Administration spending so much time trying to reduce it? And if the supposedly low jobless rate isn't a concern, why are companies frantically paying bonuses and incentives for people willing to do even menial jobs? But most important, if the Fed's behavior of late with the money supply isn't a concern, why does the bond market care so much? Interest rates on 30-year bonds rose to 6.38 percent last week, up sharply even though just about everyone knows that the Fed won't be able to tighten credit again at its meeting this week. In fact, the credit markets seem to care so much about all the things above that it now seems possible that the Central Bank may have to state that it intends to raise rates in the months ahead. Adopting a so-called bias toward tightening would have been unthinkable just a few weeks ago. But you know what? None of this matters to me, because I'm off for the next two weeks. Bye. nypostonline.com

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (46148)	12/21/1999 12:16:00 PM
From: Alex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116782

Dutch central bank says responsible for gold sale AMSTERDAM, Dec 21 (Reuters) - The Dutch Central bank (DNB) said on Tuesday it was responsible for the sale of 13.5 tonnes or 119 million euros of gold in the week to December 17, as reported by the European Central Bank today. ``I can confirm the amount of 13.5 tonnes of gold, 119 million euros was what the Netherlands sold,' spokesman Bert Groothoff told Reuters. The ECB said the disposal was consistent with the 1999 Central Bank Gold Agreement of September 26. DNB said earlier this month it would sell 100 tonnes of its gold reserves up to next September, but would keep the sales dates secret. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- biz.yahoo.com