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Pastimes : The Justa & Lars Honors Bob Brinker Investment Club -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Justa Werkenstiff who wrote (12274)	3/6/2000 11:11:00 PM
From: Dogbert	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15132

Justa, re: margin rates I don't know who you use but the Broker Call rate which is the baseline most brokers use to tack on their markup has increased in lock step with the Fed's last 4 increases. I was paying 6.00% long ago, now 7.00%. PS I think Greenspan is under pressure from the investment banks/brokerages to not restrict margin since they make a huge amount of money from lending it out. Many of them pay 1% or 2% on excess credit balances to folks who don't even know the rate they get, then lend that out at 9.50% again to folks who don't care what rates they pay and never read their margin agreements. (If you are plan to make 20%/month gains who cares what the broker charges on your debt.) Schwab charges 9.50% on margin debits under $10K, stepping down to 8.00% on margin debits over $50K. Big profits which flow straight to the bottom line.

To: Justa Werkenstiff who wrote (12274)	3/7/2000 12:19:00 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15132

The productivity number this morning was pretty amazing. An excerpt from the Reuters article: <<The broad market opened with a rally after the latest economic numbers confirmed that America's investment in technology has paid off in strong productivity and low inflation. The fourth-quarter productivity number was revised upward to a 6.4 percent gain, compared with the 5 percent increase reported a month ago. Non-farm labor costs dropped 2.5 percent, compared with the 1 percent decline reported a month ago. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a productivity increase of 6.3 percent and a drop in labor costs of 2.2 percent. ``If you ask yourself why the technology stocks continue to do so well, the answers are in these numbers," said Hugh Johnson, the chief investment officer at First Albany Corp in Albany, N.Y. "The returns on investment (in technology) are so substantial that rising interest rates or worries about the economy don't matter.">> The more interest rates rise, the more pressure on companies to cut costs and find innovative ways to use technology. And the more "new economy" companies benefit. And this perception will actually increase the bubble and the stark differential in equity values, not prick the bubble. Technology stocks become the only game in town as "old economy" stocks keep trying to just stay in the game. Whether the reality is different or not, surely that is part of the perception that keeps driving the Naz higher while the Dow sinks, or treads water.