And the party goes on...
Street Life
Thursday, April 30, 1998, 7:30 p.m.
Great Numbers Make Bulls Frolic
By Andrew Serwer
Thursday was a real nice day to be alive and kicking in
America, I'll tell you. End of the month and one-third
of the year down! The Bull kicked some butt, with the
Dow climbing 112, to 9063. (Was up as much as 167
points!) NASDAQ was up 17 points, to 1868. A lot of
really interesting news today. A LOT! Here's what we've
been following today:
MARKETS.... We had a double Sauza tequila sunrise kind
of day. Fears of a rate rise subsided today. The long
bond dropped back down below 6% (Whew!!!), to 5.95%.
What's up with that? The GDP number came out, showing
4.2% growth; that's better than expected. And even
betta (as Sly Stone might say), a key inflation number
came in LOWER than expected. Love that!!!! What a wacky
week, huh? On Monday, everyone said the Fed's about to
raise rates and panic ensued; now everything is just
ducky. I say, forget it! That's right, forget it! Focus
on buying a better bowling ball, or whatever floats
thine boat. Not this daily mumbo jumbo.
MICROSOFT NEWS.... So you saw that my favorite people
in the world (WAY NOT!), the States' Attorneys General,
are going after Microsoft. (Can I start now?) Get a
life!!! Get a job!!! Get a clue!!! What does flippin'
Richard Blumenthal (CT) know about operating systems?
Absolutely nothing. Less! Now I have just learned that
a group of computer companies and resellers, including
Dell, Ingram, Merisel, and CompUSA, are banding
together to resist the states and the DOJ action
against MSFT. RIGHT ON! You put the clamps on Windows
98, you're going to put the kabosh on PC sales!!!! Have
any of you silly, boneheaded paper-and-pencil-pushers
considered THAT ramification??!?! Well, sirs, you are
going to be hearing from these companies. And more.
Next thing you know the SAGs are going to go after
Bazooka bubble gum! Hey, they have a huge market share
right!?!?! This stuff is enough to make me want to go
off the grid!!!!
McMAJOR CHANGE.... McDonald's CEO Michael Quinlan
stunned Wall Street today as he stepped aside. Jack
Greenberg assumed the top job. Wall Street was really
pumped! Guys in the trenches never liked Quinlan and
they like Greenberg. Stock was up $2.50, to $61. (Sorry
Mike!) It's up 28% year to date. (Also this unknown guy
named Feldman is the new head of U.S. operations. Good
luck.) MCD's problems are simple to spot, tough to fix.
Foreign growth is OK. But domestically, they're pretty
much saturated, and worse, they haven't had a hit
product in years. The key, though, is that they have
not been able to get baby boomers to come to MCD for
dinner regularly. So good luck, Jack. And Mike, your
job is done (effective in August). Kick back.
NOT TO WORRY, HE CAN AFFORD IT.... Sandy Weill and his
wife announced today they were giving $100 million to
Cornell Medical College, which is renaming itself the
Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College and Graduate
School of Medical Sciences of Cornell University. Some
name. This man Weill, no small gestures.
Loose Change
Webster Hubbell was indicted (Who cares?).... Real news
coming: Heavy hitters: Merck up $4, GE up $3, Coke and
J&J both up over $2.... Did you know United
Technologies is up 35% this year? No. 1 Dow stock,
baby! Jet engines, elevators, air conditioners. Oh so
sexy. Who woulda ever guessed!... Airlines stocks were
hot in the wake of the UAL/Delta joint venture.... CBS
posted some happenin' numbers, but my man Marc Gunther
is digging behind them.... Much scuttle about Seagram
buying EMI today. Edgar & Co. was on the move. So was
Sumner's little entertainment company (Viacom! As I
told you in the pages of FORTUNE!).... David Faber says
the Koreans want out of Dreamworks SKG. (Hey Dave, I
told you that they weren't ponying up a couple of weeks
ago!).... Also, Disney bought Paul Allen's stake in
Starwave?!?!? Hmmm. What's up with that, Dave
Kansas??????... Dell zipped up $3, to just under $81,
as DLJ raised its numbers. Another day, another record.
Michael Dell is now worth $8.2 billion!!! Stock hits
$98, he's worth $10 bil. (Don't look back, Bill--thank
you, Satchel Paige!).... Ciena got some European
business, it was up 3 1/2.... Lycos bumped up $6; it
bought another Net company.... Financial stocks were on
fire: Cigna cruised and split three for one.... EDS was
halted, but I don't think its numbers were that bad....
Jeremy K. told me he has a buddy over at Lehman who's
up on Astoria Financial Corporation (ASFC). It's been
doing a lot of acquiring and is up about 3% today. But
it still has a P/E of 18, which is low. Could be a
target itself!!!... So much news today I can't do tunes
or sports except to say that the Rockets/Jazz is one
UGLY series. So boring I don't care who wins. But if
the Rocks do win, Michael gets his ring fer sure (he
will anyway!). Bulls-T'wolves in the Finals.
PLEASE!!!... AND Willie Nelson is 65 today. Right smack
dab in the middle of the IRS hearings. Willie likes
that! (Wonder if he owns any Dell?)
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