To: Stoctrash who wrote (5316 ) 1/29/1998 11:23:00 AM From: ViperChick Secret Agent 006.9 Respond to of 42787
Well...at least european market is following your lead... Money in the Morning Thursday, January 29, 1998, 9:30 a.m. Europe storms into record territory by Ryan J. Donmoyer The record highs are back. At least in Europe. An influx of cash and a holiday hiatus in the Asian financial crisis drove the London and Paris stock markets into record territory today and Frankfurt was about 10 points shy of setting a new ceiling itself. In fact, the Financial Times 100 in London has been growing about 1% a day this week. The index was up nearly 40 points in mid-day trading today. In Paris, the CAC 40 was up about 37 points. The DAX in Frankfurt was up about 35 points in late trading. European traders were riding the coattails of this week's strong Dow performance (the industrials gained 100 points on Wednesday). And it doesn't hurt that Asia has been "out of sight, out of mind," as CNBC's Tom Costello put it this morning. It's the Chinese New Year. Ironically, there was good news today for Asia. After nearly a month of negotiating, South Korea reached agreement with the world's largest banks to trade $24 billion in short-term debt for government-guaranteed loans. The deal is a major stepping stone in South Korea's economic recovery. The devaluation of its currency, the won, has made it difficult for the country to repay its debts. In Japan, where two more members of the Finance Ministry quit and a third committed suicide amidst a bribery scandal, the Nikkei 225 gained more than 40 points today to close at 17014.39. Other open markets in the region included Australia and New Zealand, which closed up about 1% each. All eyes in the U.S. markets are on Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who testifies before the Senate Budget Committee at 10 a.m.