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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gottfried who wrote (20457)	6/16/1998 7:56:00 PM
From: Xpiderman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Thomas Kurlak released a research report on the semiconductor industry that the market interpreted as a "buy" signal. exchange2000.com Can anyone confirm this news? I will call my broker at ML tomorrow. And I wonder what Tom Kurlak will say on this Friday's triple whiching day. He talked down Intel and other semiconductors on option expiration day in last several months. With the Philadelphia Stock Exchange semiconductor index now off 34% from its 1998 high in late February, the report said, the battered chip sector now presents some "buying opportunities" for long-term investors. It also stated that while "stock prices are expected to decline further," semiconductor shares would probably hold up relatively well should the economy falter given the actions that companies have already taken to reduce oversupply and conserve cash. Mr. Kurlak's comments "triggered a wave of buying in the tech sector that caught a lot of short sellers by surprise, and that seemed to add fuel to the fire," said William Meehan, a market analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. "The techs have been beaten up pretty badly beaten up, and even the large-caps are looking fairly oversold." Steven Kroll, managing director at Monness, Crespi & Hardt, noted that two of the forces that contributed to Monday's sell-off -- tumbling oil price and trading relating to Friday's so-called triple witching -- are now working in the market's favor. A triple-witch refers to the expiration of stock options, stock futures and options on stock indexes that occurs every three months.

To: Gottfried who wrote (20457)	6/16/1998 10:45:00 PM
From: Big Bucks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

GM, Sounds like things are spiraling out of control and no one is at the wheel. The Japanese government seems to be like the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand, trying to hide from reality. I know that it's not an easy issue to stimulate a huge economy but a jump start seems in order here. Any way you cut it, someone or something is going to have to be sacrificed in order to allow the rest of the economy to start growing again. If Japans' economy goes belly up there will be a protracted downturn for most international companies and competition will force consolidation and downsizing to be as lean and mean as possible. It will be difficult to compete with companies from Asia with cheaper products competing for market share. It is likely that smaller US companies will fare better in this environment as they have more focus and less overhead expenses required to support a large organization. Just my opinion, BB