Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Tech Stock Options -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ViperChick Secret Agent 006.9 who wrote (53892)	9/25/1998 3:56:00 PM
From: flickerful	Respond to of 58727

IMM yen, sterling futures end up as US stocks fall Thursday September 24, 4:22 pm Eastern Time CHICAGO, Sept 24 (Reuters) - IMM yen and sterling futures settled higher as U.S. stocks fell on growing fears about U.S. companies' and banks' exposure to a faltering U.S. hedge fund, traders and analysts said. Dealers were active pit buyers, with one firm buying about 1,500 to 2,000 December yen. December sterling rallied through the one-week high of $1.6856 and set a contract high of $1.6934, or about 1.70 spot, they said. December marks attempted to retest the contract high of $0.6018 after rising through the one-week high of $0.6004 in lock-step with every decline in the U.S. stock market. December yen rose through resistance at $0.007500 or 134.86 spot yen and at $0.007508 or 134.72 spot yen as U.S. stocks started to aggressively edge lower at midsession. Buy-stop orders were hit at $0.007495, with dealers bidding the contract to the day's high of $0.007515. Earl Johnson, vice president and foreign exchange economist at Bank of Montreal, said concerns about the fallout in the United States from hedge fund Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) was overshadowing Japan's financial problems for now. LTCM said late Wednesday it had reached an agreement in principle with 15 banks that would take an equity stake in the fund to avert its collapse. ''The implication is maybe more banks are exposed and will have to raise capital,'' Johnson said. ''We just don't know.'' U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said Thursday the threatened collapse of LTCM did not pose a systemic danger to the U.S. economy, even though risks from the turmoil abroad had increased overall. UBS AG , Europe's biggest bank, said market turmoil since mid-August had caused a substantial drop in income, leading to a third-quarter loss after taxes. UBS said it had to write down the value of its investments in LTCM, resulting in a charge of 950 million Swiss francs. ''That's scary stuff,'' one floor trader said. ''This is Switzerland, for heaven's sake. It's a bad precursor.'' The Swiss Federal Banking Commission said UBS's LTCM loss was of more concern than its announcement that it had taken big hits on its emerging markets and equities business over the last month. All told, UBS expected to post a loss of up to one billion Swiss francs, or $720 million, in the third quarter. December Swiss francs lagged behind the other European currencies, managing only a brief bounce above $0.7282 or 1.3850 spot as U.S. stocks faltered, they said. Currencies stabilized in afternoon trade, except for Mexican pesos which fell sharply as the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled about 2.5 percent and December Standard & Poor's 500 futures fell more than 35 points. The day's highs in both December yen and marks are expected to hold in the near term as the market needs to consolidates, Johnson said. At the end of pit trade, December yen was up $0.000026 at $0.007485, marks were up $0.0004 at $0.5992, Swiss francs were off $0.0003 at $0.7266, sterling was up $0.0094 at $1.6888, Canadian dollars were up $0.0017 at $0.6608, Australian dollars were up $0.0045 at $0.5849 and Mexican pesos were off $0.000775 at $0.091700.