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Non-Tech : Conseco Insurance (CNO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: James F. Hopkins who wrote (1073)	4/6/2000 10:32:00 AM
From: Mort	Respond to of 4155

US Corp Bonds-Fannie sells $6 bln, Conseco battered April 5, 2000 06:29 PM NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters) - Wednesday was a day of recovery and reflection in the U.S. corporate bond markets -- and pain for Conseco Inc. CNC -- as Fannie Mae FNM and a handful of finance firms sold about $7.3 billion of debt. "When the Nasdaq started to take on water (on Tuesday), you started to see the flight to quality," said Henley Smith, who manages $1.5 billion as a portfolio manager for Gabelli Fixed Income LLC in Rye, N.Y. "We're seeing a little bit of the opposite today, with stocks stabilizing." Spreads, the yield difference between corporate debt and comparable benchmark securities such as U.S. Treasuries, widened about three basis points, while high-yield prices rose half a point, traders said. Conseco was not so fortunate. Yields on the Carmel, Ind.-based life insurer's debt widened substantially -- Conseco's 9.0 percent notes due 2006 now yield 14 percent, or 800 basis points over Treasuries, 200 wider than on Tuesday. The company said Friday it would sell its Conseco Finance Corp. consumer finance unit and take a $350 million charge against 1999 results. Its stock has since fallen 44 percent. In a Wednesday statement, the company, referring to "rumors that may be contributing to that decline," said it is "disappointed" the market misunderstood its announcement. "We are confident that we have adequate liquidity to fund the loan originations and meet our other cash needs during this process," it said. "Our investment bankers tell us that they have received a number of unsolicited inquiries from highly qualified prospects concerning Conseco Finance Corp. "We are optimistic that a successful sale of our finance operations should result from this process." Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's said Friday they may change their respective Baa3 and BBB-plus senior debt ratings for Conseco

To: James F. Hopkins who wrote (1073)	4/6/2000 11:07:00 AM
From: Bosco	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4155

Hi James - not sure if I agree with you about the short in CNC case. Even with a huge insider and institutional holdings and while the last convulsion in the market has squeezed out some of the margin [long,] , there is plenty of float around [> 200MM shares.] Short squeeze usually works best with small float type. I don't know about TYC short situation when it was down, but I don't think the recent runup is due to short covering. Also, while I don't mind CNC being compared to TYC, they are just not the same. Wish they were though <heavy sigh!> best, Bosco