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Strategies & Market Trends : Coming Financial Collapse Moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Box-By-The-Riviera™ who wrote (215)	6/20/2001 3:56:54 AM
From: EL KABONG!!!	Respond to of 974

interactive.wsj.com June 19, 2001 Margin Debt Rose Again in May, Buoyed by April's Cut in Rates By CHAD BRAY Dow Jones Newswires NEW YORK -- Margin debt rose 4.3% last month, as investors encouraged by a surprise interest-rate cut in April continued to buy stock in early May with borrowed funds, or on margin. The New York Stock Exchange said Tuesday that debit balances in margin accounts at its member firms reached $174.18 billion in May, up from $166.94 billion in April. Margin debt remains well below its high of $278.53 billion, reached in March 2000 when Nasdaq Stock Market stocks were peaking. May's increase marks the second month in a row that margin balances have climbed, after declining for six straight months. The increase came during a period when stocks were mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was relatively flat, while the Nasdaq Composite Index finished the month down 2.7%. Retail trading by individual investors declined in late May and has been soft in June amid negative preannouncements and uncertainty about when the economy will recover, according to several brokerage firms. Early in May, enthusiasm lingered from the Federal Reserve's surprise half-percentage point cut in interest rates on April 18. Write to Chad Bray at chad.bray@dowjones.com KJC