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To: Bob Biersack who wrote (22857)	9/6/2002 3:25:46 PM
From: Connor26	Respond to of 26752

there you go making money again! - MIR news.... Pension Deficit Gets Worrisome By Rebecca Byrne Staff Reporter 09/06/2002 08:01 AM EDT Mounting pension liabilities have become the latest bogeyman on Wall Street recently, and for good reason. As the stock market has continued to sink lower, more and more companies have seen their pension surpluses from the late 1990s transformed into deficits, making it increasingly difficult for them to meet their obligations without making a large infusion of cash. "The losses in 2001 wiped out the previous year's gains, so the cushion is gone," said John Ehrhardt, a principal and consulting actuary at Milliman USA. Sweet and Sour During the height of the bull market, investing pension assets in the stock market proved to be a successful strategy. As prices soared, gains from pension plans almost equated to another revenue stream. But as the market crumbled, many firms found themselves with less money in their coffers than was needed to pay their retirees. Because federal law requires firms to keep their plans adequately funded, companies could be forced to shell out billions of dollars in the next few years, draining precious cash flow and lowering valuations even further. According to a study by Salomon Smith Barney, Procter & Gamble (PG:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), ExxonMobil (XOM:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), Mirant (MIR:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis), Tupperware (TUP:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) and Amerisource (ABC:NYSE - news - commentary - research - analysis) are among the most seriously underfunded companies in the S&P 500 based on a percentage of their obligations.

To: Bob Biersack who wrote (22857)	9/17/2002 2:53:41 PM
From: Connor26	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 26752

Bob - MIR news today - but its taking a hit right now - down $0.25 Mich Regulators Approve Mirant As Alternate Pwr Provider Tuesday September 17, 10:11 am ET CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- Michigan utility regulators have granted Mirant Corp.'s Mirant Americas Retail Energy Marketing LP a license to sell electricity in the state as an alternate retail electric provider. The Michigan Public Service Commission said in a Monday release that Mirant's application for the license, sent to the commission in early August, was in the public interest. Atlanta-based Mirant owns an 850-megawatt power plant in Zeeland, Mich. Michigan opened its retail electricity markets to competitive suppliers on Jan. 1, 2002, per the state's 2000 restructuring law. Including Mirant, the Michigan commission has now granted licenses to 21 alternate retail electric providers.

To: Bob Biersack who wrote (22857)	9/23/2002 8:40:37 PM
From: Susan G	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 26752

Bob - wherever you are, I just had to post this one to you, it's your kind of headline <VBG> Watch Your Bottom By Igor Greenwald September 23, 2002 INVESTORS TOOK their dimmest view of stocks in years Monday, sending the Nasdaq to a corresponding low and stoking speculation that the summer's broader-market bottom may not hold. Such talk fed the collective gloom as much as all the estimate cuts, layoff predictions, accounting scandals and distress sales. The Dow lost 113 points to 7872, while the Nasdaq dropped 36 to 1185, a six-year low. The S&P 500 fell 11 to 833. A halfhearted afternoon rally trimmed the losses but could not reverse the larger bearish trend. And the comeback try pointedly excluded techs. Retailers, consumer-goods makers and airlines also took it on the chin. Banks and oil companies held up relatively well. Crude prices climbed to a 19-month high above $30 a barrel as Iraq vowed to reject any new United Nations resolution on weapons inspections. President Bush reviewed war plans. The Index of Leading Economic Indicators slipped 0.2%, its third straight monthly decline. Abandon short-term hope, counseled longtime bear Bernie Schaeffer of Schaeffer's Research, whose latest Jeremiad blasted "mega-complacency in the face of one of the worst bear markets in modern times." His bottom line is Dow 6000. Government bonds again set four-decade highs. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.69% from 3.77% late Friday, while the two-year note yielded 1.86%, down from 1.89% at the end of last week. Retailers got discounted after Wal-Mart (WMT) and Federated Stores (FD) acknowledged that sales are running at the low end of expectations. Both stocks lost 4%. Target (TGT) shares fell 5% after a downgrade by Goldman Sachs cited two months of disappointing sales. Microsoft (MSFT) shares fell 5% after Soundview Technology cut its earnings estimate, while Chief Executive Steven Ballmer said "rough" business conditions in Europe will persist. German investors seemed to agree, dropping homegrown stocks 5% after an election victory by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's center-left coalition. Cash-strapped U.S. airlines have just begun to wage their campaign for another helping of government aid amid the slump in travel. Instead of the direct subsidies and loan guarantees offered in the wake of 9/11, they'll settle for tax breaks and help with higher security costs. "Revenue is not coming back," moaned Delta Air Lines (DAL) boss Leo F. Mullin to The Wall Street Journal. "It's not a pretty picture." Delta's stock fell 8%, while shares of American Airlines parent AMR (AMR) dropped 15%. Wall Street's not a picturesque place either these days, as underemployed packs of investment bankers prowl the landscape in a largely fruitless hunt for clients. Goldman Sachs (GS) and Lehman Brothers (LEH) are the latest brokerages planning big layoffs, according to press reports. Lehman's could claim 10% of the work force. Goldman and Lehman shares fell 3% apiece. Some Tyco International (TYC) board members may also be on the endangered species list in the wake of a New York Times report that the directors knew about the extravagant spending by the conglomerate's recently departed management months before that scandal went public. Tyco shares fell 6%. Peregrine Systems rued its own improper accounting as it perched in bankruptcy court Monday, months after admitting misstatements totaling $100 million, and counting. But the still found the money and the time to sue its former auditors from Arthur Andersen for damages north of $1 billion. "Our destiny is in our control now," the boss told the Associated Press. After last week's painful profit warnings by J.P. Morgan (JPM), Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and McDonald's (MCD), the announcement of a sales shortfall at JDS Uniphase (JDSU) came as an anticlimax. The supplier of fiber-optic components slightly trimmed a sales forecast already projecting a decline of more than 50% in a year's time. The stock fell 25 cents, or 12%, though no one was exactly shocked by "continuing weakness in the company's telecommunications markets." One company not buying as much cable as it used to is Qwest (Q), a troubled telecom provider preparing to cross out $950 million in revenues. Those sales were booked over the past two years in offsetting deals with other telecoms intended to make each other's books look good. They are the subject of civil and criminal probes that have already decimated the stock this year. Qwest's shares slipped 2%. Qwest has responded, in part, by selling its phone-directories business to ease a heavy debt burden. Now another struggling telecom, Sprint (FON), has followed suit, unloading its listings business to marketer R.H. Donnelley (RHD) for $2.2 billion. FON shares rose 4%, but those of Sprint's wireless subsidiary Sprint PCS (PCS) backtracked 6% as it previewed a net loss of customers during the third quarter. For all the fire sales that have taken place this year, "corporate-sector leverage, already high, got a bit worse," in the second quarter of this year, with liabilities rising as a percentage of assets, noted Lehman Brothers equity strategist Jeffrey Applegate in a plea for lower interest rates. Federal Reserve policy makers aren't expected to grant that wish during their regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday