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To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (19384)	9/21/1998 12:18:00 AM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116898

Denver Remodeling & decorating show I was awed by new Kohler plumbing. Ol 49r, you are going to have a bunch of work in the future. There was more gold used on plumbing fixtures (even towel racks & such) than I can even imagine. The company reps were taking orders like crazy. When the common man can afford gold plated plumbing fixtures is the current cycle not near an end? rh

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (19384)	9/21/1998 6:46:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116898

Russia, Asia don't matter.... Goldman Sachs Initial Public Offering Value Drops With Financial Shares Goldman Sachs IPO Value Drops With Financial Shares (Repeat) (Repeats to update reference to London Sunday Times.) New York, Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group LP may be worth about 40 percent, or $13 billion, less as a public company than it was two months ago, just after the biggest investment banking partnership decided to sell shares to the public. Executives of the 129-year-old firm opted in June to sell shares, giving them stock to pay for acquisitions and compensate employees. Partners, using the market values of rivals Merrill Lynch & Co. and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. as guides, said Goldman would be worth as much as $33 billion -- giving some senior executives more than $100 million in stock. Those estimates were made before Russia's currency devaluation and debt default triggered bond trading losses for many firms, and concern about slowing economies in Asia, Russia and Latin America sent U.S. stocks tumbling. With Merrill shares down 47 percent since mid-July and Morgan Stanley off 44 percent, some analysts said Goldman may delay the initial public offering, though executives said they aren't canceling the sale. ''The reasons for doing the offering are still there,'' said Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. analyst Raphael Soifer. Still, ''the market has been so volatile, it has caused every IPO issuer to take a deep breath.'' Analysts offer little hope for a quick recovery in the market, as Asia's deepening slump threatens to slow earnings growth in the U.S. Today, stock markets fell worldwide after Japanese legislators deadlocked on whether public money should be used to prop up ailing banks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 166 points to 7729, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 21.88 to 998.21 $3 Billion IPO Declining stocks raised speculation the sale may be delayed. The London Sunday Times yesterday quoted an unidentified Goldman partner saying the timing of the sale is ''literally up in the air.'' Goldman planned the IPO for November. A spokesman for the firm declined to comment. Earlier this month, Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Henry Paulson told employees that the sale was on track and that ''nothing happening in the markets'' would ''substantially'' change that. The plan is for the ''strategic best interests of the firm,'' not to produce ''large sums of money'' for partners, he said. Goldman had planned to sell 10 percent to 15 percent of the company to the public. People at the firm estimated the company could raise as much as $3 billion in an IPO, making it the largest ever by a financial services company. At that time, Merrill and Morgan Stanley shares were at record highs and traded at more than four times book value, or assets minus liabilities. Vanishing Market Value Since then, U.S. stocks fell so far that trillions of dollars of market value vanished. Financial companies were among the hardest hit. Merrill trades at 2.08 times book and Morgan Stanley is at 2.46 times. That means Goldman partners would have to lower their expectations. So would employees, because executives said they plan to give shares to everyone at the firm. Goldman also could have a hard time finding investors interested at a price acceptable to the firm. There have been no IPOs since Aug. 26, one of the longest droughts in 20 years, according to Securities Data Co. of Newark, New Jersey. ''Even the paragon of investment banking may have a problem effecting its IPO at the right price,'' said Mort Cohen, a managing partner at Cleveland-based Clarion Partners LP. That may provide an even stronger incentive to Goldman partners. The firm has been the top IPO underwriter for at least 4 1/2 years, according to Securities Data. A delay could hurt the firm's reputation as the best in the business of taking companies publi

To: Bobby Yellin who wrote (19384)	9/21/1998 8:27:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116898

Battered Brazil Urges Rich Nations To Solve Crisis 05:27 p.m Sep 21, 1998 Eastern By William Schomberg BRASILIA (Reuters) - The Brazilian government Monday urged rich nations to tackle an international financial crisis that threatens to cripple Latin America's powerhouse economy, with possibly worldwide repercussions. ''Until now, political will has not corresponded to the magnitude and gravity of the situation,'' Foreign Minister Luiz Felipe Lampreia told world leaders in the opening speech of the United Nations General Assembly. ''The crisis will not resolve itself. We must join together to face it,'' Lampreia said. Back home, Finance Minister Pedro Malan hit on the same theme in a speech to concerned businessmen in Rio de Janeiro. ''The world has been slow in preparing itself for the challenges that the moment requires,'' Malan said. ''I have no doubt that at the next meeting of the International Monetary Fund there will be a coordinated attempt to balance things out.'' Finance ministers meet later this month at the IMF to discuss the world economic situation following Russia's devaluation in August that sent investors into a panic and plunged emerging markets everywhere into chaos. Brazil has one of the world's 10 biggest economies but was particularly hard hit in the fallout from the Russian crisis, mainly because it depends on increasingly scarce foreign capital to cover a huge budget deficit. Economists fear that should Brazil be forced into a currency devaluation, the domino effect might not only tip the rest of Latin America into recession but also hurt world trade. About 20 percent of U.S. exports go to Latin America. Fears of a devaluation in Brazil reached fever pitch recently, as dollar outflows averaged $1.5 billion a day in the first two weeks of September. Although outflows have slowed since, thanks in part to a drastic hike in interest rates to nearly 50 percent a year, foreign exchange traders predicted that between $500 million and $700 million would leave the country Monday. Share prices on the Sao Paulo stock exchange fell more than 7 percent in early morning trade, matching other markets around the world, and were down about 4 percent by mid-afternoon. The United States has said it will back Brazil -- where U.S. banks hold investments totaling $39 billion -- and local officials have been talking with the IMF about possible financial support involving the World Bank, the G-7 nations and other lenders. Finance Minister Malan stressed that Brazil was not seeking a bailout similar to the emergency packages put together last year for several Asian economies and more recently for Russia. ''At no time have we talked about a rescue similar to what happened in the Asian countries that involved millions of dollars after the crisis occurred,'' Malan said in his speech Monday. ''We want a preventive operation, not a rescue.'' He also repeated his view that the U.S. Federal Reserve would cut interest rates later this month, a move that could free up billions of dollars for higher-return emerging markets. ''It's disingenuous to think the president of the Fed would anticipate a reduction in rates...it's only going to happen on the 29th,'' Malan said, referring to the next meeting of the U.S. central bank's policy-making body, scheduled for Sept. 29. Battered markets across Latin America slumped again last week after Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan gave no hint that the world's rich nations were planning to cut rates. Many economists say Brazil's priority now is to reach the Oct. 4 presidential elections without plunging deeper into crisis, and then announce painful austerity measures to show the IMF and the rest of the world that it merits their support. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso is widely expected to win a second term, thanks mostly to his success in slashing inflation from 5,000 percent in 1994 -- when he was elected -- to an estimated 1 percent this year. ''They're going to have to come up with some pretty major announcements on the Monday (after the Sunday elections),'' said Diniz Pignatari, head of foreign exchange at ING Barings bank in Sao Paulo. ''But if it's not convincing or feasible, the markets are not going to like it one bit.'' Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.