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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (32584)	9/14/1998 9:27:00 PM
From: Leo Francis	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

MB, Lowrance Retains Chase Securities to Explore Strategic Alternatives TULSA, Okla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 1998--Lowrance Electronics Inc. (Nasdaq:LEIX - news) Monday announced that it has retained Chase Securities Inc., a subsidiary of Chase Manhattan Corp., to assist the company in evaluating and exploring strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value. Darrell Lowrance, chairman and chief executive officer, stated, ''The company has significant opportunities to expand its leadership position in the recreational sonar market and to enhance its market share in the rapidly growing global positioning system (GPS) navigational segment. The board has elected to look carefully at a variety of alternatives that will best enable the company to capitalize upon these opportunities.'' Lowrance Electronics designs and manufactures sonar products and orbital satellite receivers, plotters and mapping systems using the global positioning system (GPS) under the brand names ''Lowrance,'' ''Eagle'' and ''Sea'' Electronics. These products are used primarily for sport fishing, hunting, recreational boating and other outdoor applications as well as in general aviation. This news release contains ''forward looking statements'' as allowed in the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company believes that these statements are based on reasonable assumptions, however, no assurances can be given that the projected results will be achieved. Unforeseen factors which are discussed in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings could have a material adverse effect on the company's performance. Good Trading, LF $15, $20, $30?

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (32584)	9/14/1998 10:19:00 PM
From: Skeeter Bug	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

mike, put cymer on the watch list. i think it goes lower, but don't miss the pop this baby gets when things turn! how long can korean dram boys stay in business? when do you see supply and demand coming in balance? is this dram scam as weak as it appears? tia...

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (32584)	9/15/1998 1:07:00 AM
From: Broken_Clock	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

FLASH!!!! must credit Sludge...*world exclusive* M.Burke secret analysis of "DRAM SCAM" deep throated to Merrill! Monday September 14, 11:44 pm Eastern Time Further drop seen in chip stock prices-Merrill SEOUL, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Shares of U.S. and other semiconductor makers are expected to show continued declines as a recovery in personal computer demand has failed to materialise, Merrill Lynch said in a report obtained on Tuesday. ''We are still looking for evidence of a recovery as well, and the longer lead times and improved pricing that we believe signals a real turning point have yet to materialise,'' said the report, dated September 14. ''We expect semiconductor stock prices in the U.S. and other markets to continue to decline.'' The report did not include any changes in Merrill ratings for the semiconductor firms. Despite increased business at PC motherboard and electronic equipment makers in Singapore and Taiwan, Merrill said a key question was why things had improved and how long it would last. ''It is not clear that any of the PC motherboard or electronic equipment makers see a sustainable improvement in end market demand, nor have our analysts been able to verify any improvement,'' it said. It said attempts to grab market share and unsupported hopes of a recovery in PC demand appeared to be the reason behind the accelerated business activity in the two sectors. The report said it was doubtful closures of old fabrication plants and a planned merger between two South Korean chipmakers would immediately lead to an easing of the global oversupply. South Korea's LG Semicon Co and Hyundai Electronics Industries Co have agreed in principle to merge their semiconductor divisions under a government-initiated restructuring drive to ease domestic overcapacity in the chip industry. ''We find it curious that some industry watchers are interpreting the combination as good news for the industry,'' the Merrill report said. ''There has been no news of planned fab closures at either company.'' Global semiconductor stock prices have underperformed markets during the past six weeks but South Korea was an exception, with the country's ''big three'' DRAM makers having outperformed the market by 51 percent, it said.

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (32584)	9/15/1998 12:18:00 PM
From: Thomas M.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

#reply-5746614 Tom

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (32584)	9/15/1998 7:52:00 PM
From: bob s	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

MB-Your latest best stock or index puts por favor??? Thanks Bob

To: Knighty Tin who wrote (32584)	9/15/1998 10:46:00 PM
From: Joseph G.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 132070

<<Japan Inc contemplates A$750bn pensions black hole By Tony Boyd, Tokyo A little-known financial black hole in the balance sheet of Japan Inc is now estimated to have grown to 60 trillion yen (A$750 billion), almost rivalling in magnitude the bad loan problem of the nation's banks. The black hole, which takes the form of unfunded defined benefit pensions promised by corporate Japan, poses a risk to investors and will likely be the trigger that strips Japan of its triple-A sovereign credit rating within the next month. Although the unfunded liabilities are private, ratings agency Moody's Investors Service believes the problem is so huge that it may be treated as a contingent claim on the Japanese Government. Japan's most respected pension industry analyst, Mr Shinji Watanabe of Nikko Research, has told The Australian Financial Review that the size of the problem is now 60 trillion. Japan's Ministry of Health and Welfare says it is only 1.2 trillion but that is based on a series of unrealistic assumptions including 5.5 per cent investment returns and 5 per cent economic growth. "Unfunded pension liabilities are Japan's second bad loan problem," Mr Watanabe said. The Government's estimates of the size of the problem have been shown to be wildly optimistic by the disclosure of Japanese companies with American Depositary Receipts which are forced to adopt US accounting standard FAS 87. Under the US Financial Accounting Standards Board's FAS 87 standard, companies must reveal in their accounts the actuarial present value of pension obligations, the accumulated benefit obligation, the projected benefit obligation and the fair market value of plan assets at balance date. A study by Nikko Research Centre this year of the Japanese companies with ADR programs shows that all 23 companies have inadequate assets to cover their projected benefit obligations. The shortfall of assets over liabilities was 3.9 trillion at March 31 and for some companies the level of unfunded liabilities was equal to more than their net worth. For example, Mitsubishi Electric, which is ranked as one of the top 100 companies in the world by revenue, has unfunded liabilities of 676 billion. That is more than its net worth. As a percentage of shareholders' equity, the shortfall in pension reserves averaged 23.8 per cent for the 23 companies. According to Nomura Research Institute, that represents a major risk factor for management and investors alike. Japanese companies will not be obliged to reveal their retirement income liabilities until fiscal year 2000. Mr Watanabe said the shortfall in assets to cover pension liabilities was growing as more and more companies cut the assumed annual rates of return on their pension assets to more realistic levels. Mr Masao Tamura, a certified pension actuary with Nomura Research Institute, said that while it was prudent to cut the expected rate of return, this pushed up the projected benefit obligations. He said that each 1 per cent cut in the expected rate of return increased the projected benefit obligation by about 20 per cent, which in turn pushed up the shortfall on plan assets. >>