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Biotech / Medical : Novartis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Valueman who wrote (111)	11/13/1997 9:37:00 PM
From: Doug	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 296

Hi Valueman: Your info re:Screen details are exactly what I get in my neck of the woods. Now for the differrence. My brokerage T.D almost refuses to get to the trading desk. The proceedure is as follows. I have to log off in Kanata, call up the trading desk at Ottawa (Branch Office). They call up Toronto trading desk who then calls up the Nasdaq trading floor who then reroutes the call to the NVTSY desk and returns with what I saw on the screen in the first place. Absolutely incredible in this golden age of technology . Each episode takes upto 30mins or more & never changes during the day. I am determined to break out of this deadlock. From your experience what is difference between the bid ask on screen and the actual in day trading. Incidentally what do the bid/ask shown on the screen represent.

To: Valueman who wrote (111)	11/13/1997 11:22:00 PM
From: Steve Becker	Respond to of 296

Valueman, Re: "There is big volume in the stock everyday." One thing I've noticed is that on a chart there is the absence of any trades almost once a week. See quote.yahoo.com . I find that very odd to see 200K traded one day and nothing the next. Maybe on slow days small trades come out of and go into the MM holdings and don't show up on volume. I think your theory on how they come up with their bid and ask is correct. Doug, Since this stock has wide swings and spreads it is one to look at in a longer term perspective. The $5 swings have more to do with the MM spread and Swiss currency fluctation. I have it in my 401k where we can only make changes once a month. In the end that has worked out better than worrying about it being $78 one day and $72 the next for no particular reason. Uncle Micky, It was explained years back to Sandoz employees that the reason Sandoz didn't get listed on any US exchanges besides the pink sheets was because the Swiss accounting methods are far different to the US methods and they would have to adopt the accepted US accounting methods to get listed on a US exchange besides the Pink Sheets. If you think about it how many Swiss ADRs are on the NYSE or NASDAQ? NESTLE ADR is also on the BB. Tell a Swiss that our way is better? That would be like telling them Hershey's chocolate is better than Swiss chocolate. I agree, put Novartis on a listed exchange and the added exposure is good for 15-20%. I'll have to ask why again at a benefits meeting one of these days. Steve Steve

To: Valueman who wrote (111)	11/14/1997 1:42:00 PM
From: Tom Wilkes	Respond to of 296

Thanks for the info Valueman. I will use your advice with my own broker. I am interested, however, in the historical performance of Ciba-Geigy, which you said you have owned (and of Sandoz too, of course) because it is difficult for a newcomer to Novartis, like me, to get a good picture of the company's stock price history over more than a couple of years. Can you post or (e-mail me) with any info in this regard? How do you, as a long-time stockholder, feel about the future of this giant? Better than Roche?