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To: Lucretius who wrote (314)	5/19/1998 8:51:00 AM
From: Teddy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 14427

Hi Luc, looks like the only thing going down is gold: Wake-Up Call: FOMC Be Damned, Stocks Look Like They're Heading Higher By Justin Lahart Senior Markets Writer 5/19/98 8:22 AM ET On the day of a Federal Open Market Committee meeting, no matter how unlikely a rate move may be, investors are supposed to be cautious on the market. But after three days of losses, Wall Street can't take it anymore, and with some good news out of Indonesia, stocks are set to make their way higher this morning. At 8:10 a.m. EDT, the S&P 500 futures were up 4.20, indicating a nice hop at the open. After that, however, stocks will likely tread water until the Fed announces at 2:15 p.m. whether it changed rates. And no, not many people out there are expecting a rate hike (although the guy in front of TheStreet.com's offices asking for change thinks it could happen). Still, Treasury traders are laying low. The long bond was off 10/32 at 102 20/32, lifting the yield to 5.94%. That weakness, however, has as much to do with the respite in emerging Asia's troubles. The major Asian markets improved on Indonesian President Suharto's promise to hold new elections and step down. While Suharto didn't indicate when those elections would be, Environment Minister Juwono Sudarsono, speaking to Reuters this morning, said that Suharto has drawn up a plan to hold them in three to six months. Still, Indonesia is far from out of the woods. "Since the financial crisis began Indonesians have experienced a 50% decline in real wages," wrote Deutsche Morgan Grenfell currency analyst Marc Chandler in his morning note today. "The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have postponed loans. Trade and trade finance has been disrupted. Suharto's attempt to control the reform process is bound to fail. He no longer sets the agenda nor governs the pace of change, though how the end game plays out may simply be unpredictable." And the relief the region is feeling today may fade very quickly. Tomorrow Indonesian opposition leader Amien Rais and student protesters have called for a million people to take to the streets. In Japan, where many companies have ties with Indonesia, stocks were under pressure until Suharto's speech, and then headed higher. The Nikkei closed up 167.18 to 15,551.65. A similar scenario played out in Hong Kong, though traders there, closer to the Indonesian storm, were more tentative in their optimism over today's lull. The Hang Seng advanced 37.14 to 9449.11. European stocks were also higher, helped along by the news out of Indonesia. Yet European traders had more time then their Asian counterparts to mull Suharto's speech, and today's FOMC meeting made them wary. In Germany, the Dax climbed 46.04 to close at 5388.89, while in London the FTSE was up 57.80 to 5884.00. An updated Wake-Up Call comes out ahead of the open.