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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cactus Jack who wrote (42472)	9/24/2001 2:50:14 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 65232

Goldman's Cohen Urges More Stock Buying Monday September 24, 10:01 am Eastern Time NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS - news) chief investment strategist Abby Joseph Cohen on Monday recommended that investors add more stocks to their portfolios because shares have become cheaper since last week's declines. Cohen, an influential Wall Street bull, increased the equity weighting in portfolios to 75 percent from 70 percent, also cut her bond weighting to 22 percent from 27 percent, and maintained a 3 percent weighting in commodities, while keeping cash at zero. The 15 percent decline last week in stock prices has ''further improved equity valuations,'' Cohen wrote in a note to clients. Even before the attacks on Sept. 11, stock prices reflected the worsening state of the economy and had declined significantly from March 2000 highs, she wrote. At midmorning on Monday, the Dow Jones industrials average gained 223 points to 8461, while the Nasdaq composite index climbed 47 to 1470. Stocks are also attractive because the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank cut interest rates further following the attacks, may do so again, and because fiscal policy initiatives are under discussion that may include accelerated spending and additional tax cuts, Cohen said. Corporate share repurchases should provide a boost to equities. Through Friday, companies had announced a cumulative total of about $34 billion in rerepurchases, Cohen said. Also, about $2 trillion worth of assets has accumulated in money market mutual funds and some of this money is likely to be used to buy shares following their declines since early 2000. Finally, ``despite the smoke, ash and unspeakable grief, the banking system operated without interruption'' following the attacks, and the ``financial markets reopened and ran smoothly,'' Cohen wrote.