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To: smolejv@gmx.net who wrote (3249)	7/15/1998 7:14:00 AM
From: smolejv@gmx.net	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11051

Who wrote this? "... My standard procedure was to buy convertible bonds around par and to sell calls against them on the related common stock; or else - in a more elaborate variant - sell the common stock short and sell puts against our short position. " Answer: Benny Grossbaum, aka Ben Graham. The big message, the AHA for me was, I understood finally, what was meant with the "reasonable margin of safety" or whatever eventually his approach was called (by W. Buffet and others). It's not the investment instrument, it's the investment per se that's risky or safe. Once you found the safe investment, you would be stupid not to maximize the payout. Besides making the investment delta-invariant (g). DJ PS:Quote from Benjamin Graham: The memoirs of the dean of Wall Street, McGraw Hill 1996, isbn 0-07-024269-0.

To: smolejv@gmx.net who wrote (3249)	7/16/1998 12:46:00 PM
From: MonsieurGonzo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 11051

DJ; RE:" WEBS " There are these stox on the AMEX, DJ... one is called SPY for *SPDR Standard & Poor's Depository Receipts* - this is the S&P-500 index (futures, actually) in stock form. You can buy or sell it just like a stock. Also DIA Diamonds is the DJIA-30 in stock form. In addition to "spider", there are WEBS. Each of these is essentially the index for some country. Symbol EWG is the DAX. There are 17 WEBS, mostly the EU countries, EWL is Switzerland and EWU is the UK; and EWJ is Japan, EWH Hong Kong. It's an east way to trade/invest (in US dollars) in non-US stock markets with an el-cheapo discount internet broker. You can look them up on amex.com where they came from. You can use TRF Russia to play that market. Though there is an EWI Italy WEB, and an EWP Spain WEB, there isn't one for GREECE or for PORTUGAL or IRELAND, all of which have been ballistic this year. You can use PT Portugal Telecom as a proxy for that country, but so far, I haven't found anything but mutual funds as dollar-denominated vehicles for Ireland and Greece. Put DIA, SPY and the 17 WEBS and TRF Russia into one of the on-line portfolio thingys, DJ (like MyYahoo or something similar) and you can monitor the entire world's markets. EWG may be especially useful to you, as it is essentially the DAX converted to USD which reflects American investor sentiment. -Steve