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Biotech / Medical : Ligand (LGND) Breakout! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cheryl Galt who wrote (25793)	9/27/1998 9:17:00 AM
From: tonyt	Respond to of 32384

>Do you think that size of cut will satisfy the Market's desires? A 1/2 point will, not 1/4 >What response do you expect if Tuesday comes and goes with no >rate cut? The dow will probably rise 200pts Mon/Tues(morn) in anticipation, so if there is no cut, look for a 500-1000 pt dow drop (not really that bad % wise, but bad enough). --Tony. p.s. watch the NIKKEI tonight: WSJ (direct quote, bob ;-)): "Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party and key opposition groups began preparing bills designed to solve the Japanese banking sector's problems. The LDP and opposition parties agreed that the government should purchase shares of ailing Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan and place it under temporary state control."

To: Cheryl Galt who wrote (25793)	9/27/1998 9:21:00 AM
From: tonyt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 32384

Also in the news (WSJ top story as of now): THE HOUSE of Representatives approved a five-year, $80 billion Republican tax-cut bill despite Democratic objections that it jeopardizes the future of Social Security. House Approves Tax-Cut Bill Amid Democratic Complaints Associated Press WASHINGTON -- The House approved a five-year, $80 billion Republican tax-cut bill Saturday despite Democratic complaints that it jeopardizes the future of Social Security. The 229-195 vote sent the bill to the Senate, where its future is uncertain. Even if the measure wins approval there, President Clinton is threatening a veto. "The Republican tax plan drains billions of dollars from the surplus before we have done the hard work of strengthening Social Security," Mr. Clinton said Saturday on a fund-raising trip to California. "First things first." "I will insist that we reserve the entire surplus until we have seized this historic opportunity to save Social Security, and veto any bill that doesn't meet that principle," he said. Republicans got 19 Democratic votes, but the margin was far short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. Eleven Republicans voted against the bill. But with congressional elections just six weeks away, Republican leaders were determined to pass even a modest tax cut. They rejected Democratic charges that the bill would amount to a raid on a projected budget surplus that should be used for Social Security. "Republicans believe that Americans have worked hard for their money and deserve to keep as much of it as possible," House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R., Ga.) said in the GOP response to Mr. Clinton's weekly radio address. "We know that we must reserve enough to guarantee that Social Security will be there for my mother, my mother-in-law, the baby boomers and our children," Mr. Gingrich said. On a 227-197 vote earlier Saturday, the House defeated an effort by Democrats to put in place a "trigger" that would only permit the tax cuts if Congress ensures Social Security will remain solvent. "If we're going to show the difference between us and you, this is going to be the issue," Rep. Charles Rangel (D., N.Y.) told GOP lawmakers. To blunt Social Security as a campaign issue, the House voted 240-188 Friday for a Republican measure that would set up a new government account for 90% of the predicted surplus until Social Security is safeguarded; the remaining 10% would go for the tax cuts. A Democratic effort to lock up 100% of any surplus until Social Security is safeguarded failed, 216-210. "We can save Social Security and cut taxes," said Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R., Texas). But Mr. Clinton repeatedly has said he will veto any tax cut plan that spends some of the surplus. "If we hold fast to fiscal discipline, we will enter a new and promising era of budget surpluses," the president said Friday. The tax measure would provide tax relief for farmers, married couples, working senior citizens, small-business operators, people with modest savings accounts and students saving for private colleges. It also would extend several expiring tax credits sought by big business. Most Democrats support the items in the tax bill but not use of a surplus that may not materialize to pay for them. They also contend it takes money that should be held until Social Security's future is assured as millions of baby boomers begin to retire, threatening the programs solvency by 2030. "They aren't really committed to saving Social Security," said Rep. Dick Gephardt (D., Mo.), the House minority leader. "If you're really committed to something, you stand 100% behind it." But voting mainly along party lines, the House defeated 216-210 an effort by Mr. Rangel to lock away all of the surplus in the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, well out of the reach of Congress, until Social Security is saved. Mr. Gingrich chastised Democrats for their willingness to spend the surplus on such emergency items -- the White House is asking for at least $9.25 billion -- as year 2000 computer problems, the farm crisis and the cost of U.S. forces in Bosnia. "The only time they start to yell about the surplus is when the money is going back to the taxpayer," the speaker said. Before the measure could go to Mr. Clinton, it would face a high hurdle in the Senate. Republicans would need 60 votes to cross a procedural threshold that blocks virtually any controversial bill, and they have just 55 senators. Nonetheless, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R., Miss.) promised: "We will have a vote on the tax bill that the House passes." The bill is H.R. 4578.

To: Cheryl Galt who wrote (25793)	9/27/1998 9:25:00 AM
From: tonyt	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 32384

*OT* (not about LGND or LGND bop): Another interesting story: Bailout of Long-Term Capital Sets Markets Reeling and Hands Wringing An INTERACTIVE JOURNAL News Roundup Call it one of the biggest acts of preservation in American financial history. Meeting Wednesday evening at the headquarters of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, 15 financial institutions agreed to chip in $3.5 billion to keep alive the Long-Term Capital Management L.P. hedge fund. "This is an extraordinary story" -- "staggering" in its dimensions -- said Ron Chernow, author of "The House of Morgan" and the current bestseller "Titan" about John D. Rockefeller Sr. The magnitude of the bailout, and of Long-Term Credit's woes, was so great that it deflated much of market rally that began Wednesday when Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan signaled that central-bank policy makers were poised to lower interest rates -- perhaps as early as their upcoming meeting on Tuesday. "We have to bring the existing instabilities to a level of stability reasonably shortly," Mr. Greenspan told a Senate panel. "I think we know where we have to go." Stocks knew where they had to go -- straight up -- with the Dow Jones Industrial Average soaring 257.21 points as investors bet interest rates were headed down. On Thursday, though, news of the Long-Term Credit bailout sent the blue-chip index down 152.42 points. The Fed and the financial institutions stepping in on the hedge fund's behalf said they were acting to avoid triggering financial-market disaster. The plan brought criticism and no small amount of hand wringing. The bailout "underscores the hypocrisy of those who advocate the free market," said Ken Guenther, executive vice president of the Independent Bankers Association of America. Others said that the Fed's involvement could backfire, creating a "moral hazard" in financial markets that would cause investors to take ever greater risks, secure in the knowledge that regulators would prevent a collapse. Members of Congress called for greater scrutiny, and possibly more regulation, of hedge funds. New York Fed President William McDonough, urged banking regulators from around the world to pay more attention to the risks of derivatives and other hybrid investments that are the funds' bread and butter.