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To: Softechie who wrote (2035)	3/7/2002 4:29:48 PM
From: Softechie	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2155

MARKET TALK: NYSE Traders Skeptical On Amex Deal 07 Mar 15:59 Edited by Thomas Granahan Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES (Call Us: 201 938-5299; All Times Eastern) MARKET TALK can be found using code N/DJMT 3:59 (Dow Jones) Despite the talk about a possible combination of the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange, not everyone on the NYSE's floor is betting that such a deal will come to fruition, says one longtime floor trader there. "What I'm seeing is skepticism," he says, noting that the idea of joining the Amex and the NYSE has been heard before without becoming a reality. A sticking point seems to be price: "The members there seem to have such an inflated idea of their net worth," says the NYSE trader, referring to a report in The Wall Street Journal that said the Amex has been valued at $500 million to $700 million. "It seems like a lot to me," the trader said. (GFC) 3:54 (Dow Jones) A report from mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments reveals that 66% of companies that match employee contributions with stock don't restrict participants from exchanging out of those shares. The report, an analysis of Fidelity's database of 9,300 contribution plans serviced at the end of 2001, notes that company stock is offered in just 670, or 7%, of the plans, and mostly the larger ones. Workers in plans that offer company stock generally have higher balances and appear to be no more exposed to the equity markets than those who participate in plans without company stock, the report concludes. (TJG/CRW) 3:41 (Dow Jones) Here's a snapshot of Intel's (INTC) option trading ahead of its mid-quarter update: with many analysts expecting the chip giant to tighten the range of its revenue target, and with the stock having run up 14% so far this month, option investors seem to have been playing it safe. The ratio of total outstanding put positions in Intel to outstanding calls increased to 0.78 from 0.54 about three weeks ago, according toSchaeffer's Investment Research. This suggests that some investors might have bought defensive puts even as they bought stock - a hedge against the volatile and uncertain market. (KT) 3:28 (Dow Jones) Action decreased at the Philadelphia Stock Exchange in February, with equity trading volume dropping 19% from a year ago and equity options volume falling 20.6%. On the upside, sector index options trading volume was up 5.5%. (CRW) 3:15 (Dow Jones) NY Fed president William McDonough took a small detour at the beginning of his speech this morning to say this bit about the U.S. Constitution: "It's very hard for me to understand that somehow it's unconstitutional to start the school day with the Lord's prayer. And I doubt very much that the founding father's view of freedom of speech included the constitutional right to poison the minds of young people through the spreading of pornography through the Internet...If that's freedom of speech, it's a very nutty notion of the freedom of speech." (MSD) 3:03 (Dow Jones) Greenspan earlier cautioned against unnecessary regulation of energy derivatives during questioning from the Senate Banking Committee. "There is a significant downside if we regulate where we do not have to in this area," he said. (RSC) 2:45 (Dow Jones) As always with the yen, there seems to be a mixed story behind today's big move. Some signs that foreigners have indeed been buying up Japanese shares, but many say they're not. "We're sort of neutral at the moment on Japan," says Edgar Peters, chief investment officer at Panagora Asset Management. "There still aren't any real signs that the problems are being taken care of." (GMM) 2:36 (Dow Jones) One drawback of e-tickets used to be that you couldn't re-book or connect from one airline to another without paper tickets. But that's changing. UAL's (UAL) United just launched "interline e-ticketing" with AMR's (AMR) American that allows the two carriers to accept e-ticket customers from each other.United already has a similar service with Air Canada, Continental (CAL) and Northwest (NWAC). The move will likely further increase the usage of e-tickets and help carriers slash costs. More than 73% of United's domestic customers use e-tickets. (SON) 2:19 (Dow Jones) Add Morgan Stanley to the list of those high on small caps. The pick up in economic growth and attractive relative valuations should drive the outperformance, firm says, adding that its macro analysis points to a growth recommendation, but its concerns about tech and its importance to growth keeps it neutral as to value/growth outperformance. Consumer discretionary and industrials are favorite sectors, while underweight is warranted in IT, financials, and staples. (TG) 2:01 (Dow Jones) No hard news to account for the 13% rise in shares of online gaming software provider CryptoLogic (CRYP), though the company has been meeting with retail investors in the U.S. and Canada this week reminding them that CryptoLogic has remained profitable during the downturn and has several growth initiatives planned, said CryptoLogic director of communications Nancy Chan-Palmateer. Shares of the Toronto company have been under pressure in recent months as several credit-card issuers, including MBNA (KRB) and Capital One (COF), stopped processing online gaming transactions. (SEW) 1:49 (Dow Jones) A few days after bumping up his target on the DJIA, Salomon Smith Barney's Tobias Levkovich out with another bullish note, saying stocks can do well if the dollar weakens (that's good news for bulls, because the dollar is getting hit further Thursday). Essentially, the economic prospects of the country tend to overwhelm bouts of dollar strength or weakness, he says. "Dollar weakness could further stoke the Industrials names as they become more competitive globally," he adds. (TG) (END) DOW JONES NEWS 03-07-02 03:59 PM