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Strategies & Market Trends : Mr. Pink's Picks: selected event-driven value investments -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: anyer who wrote (3919)	10/9/1998 11:11:00 PM
From: Muhney	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18998

A 9 day moving average? Now I have heard everything. Is that business days or are you counting the weekend? Regards... Muhney

To: anyer who wrote (3919)	10/9/1998 11:33:00 PM
From: Lee G. Sommer	Respond to of 18998

Found this interesting: Cendant Pulls Out of Providian Buy OLDWICK, N.J., Oct 06, 1998, (A. M. Best via COMTEX) -- Cendant Corp., Parsippany, N.J., has terminated its agreement to buy Providian Auto and Home Insurance Co. and its subsidiaries from Aegon N.V. Last December, Cendant agreed to purchase Providian, Frazer, Pa., for $219 million. The transaction was originally expected to close in late spring, but the deal had still not closed by the Sept.30 agreement termination date. Cendant didn't pursue an extension. "Providian is a radically different company now," a Cendant spokesman said. Cendant said it didn't pursue the agreement because several representations and covenants in the acquisition agreement hadn't been fulfilled, and the conditions to closing weren't met. On Monday, Cendant filed a lawsuit against the company. But Aegon expressed a different view. "We believe it's Cendant that has breached the agreement. Cendant's recent problems, which are a matter of public record, speak for themselves," a spokesperson for Chicago-based Aegon said. Recently, Cendant has faced its own woes. In April, the company discovered accounting errors in its membership unit, once part of CUC International, which merged with HFS Inc. last December to create Cendant. The discovery caused Cendant stock, trading at a high of $41.375, to crater. The company said it would need to restate 1995 through 1997 earnings by as much as several hundred million dollars. This delayed the closing of its purchase of American Bankers Insurance Group Inc., a Miami-based credit insurer. The announcement that it would walk from the Providian transaction comes amid industry speculation that ultimately Cendant, whose stock opened at $9.9375 a share Monday morning, may pull out of its $3.1 billion agreement to buy ABI. But Cendant emphasized that the two transactions are "isolated" events. "There's no connection to ABI," the Cendant spokesman said. Last week, both Cendant and ABI maintained that the deal still stands. According to A.M. Best Co. data for the six months ended June 30, Providian Auto and Home Insurance Co. had net premiums written of $18.4 million and policyholders' surplus of $78.3 million. A.M. Best rates the company B++. Particularly found this interesting: "Providian is a radically different company now," a Cendant spokesman said. Chart shows a lot of selling right after this announcement. LGS

To: anyer who wrote (3919)	10/9/1998 11:38:00 PM
From: Shtirlitz	Respond to of 18998

I wouldn't give up on finanscals quite yet. We are still in the middle of the bear run. IMO its just a pullback from oversold condition. It can't go to zero in one day. Same with the market. It was an exhaustion day. You could see it coming. Bulls didn't give up yet. Therefore bear ride continues. Besides, MM's have probably taken in so many shares on the bids lately, and they have to distribute them. I was totaly convinced when someone dumped 1,000,000 shares block on PVN the other day. That looked like an act of total desperation. There where a lot of other blocks hitting the bid. 120,000 , 235,000. However I've seen a few big buys too. I've done a little TA, and it says, that PVN is safe below 70. Fundamentaly, nothing has changed in the world, that could cause some serious interest in financial stocks. IMO its even getting worse. I was thinking, why did dollar drop so dramaticaly against yen. Things don't happen just because. All this crap about hedge funds "unwinding" their positions, whatever that means, is a big B.S. IMO. I suspect that this was a planned currency intervention by U.S. to drop the dollar, because strong dollar is hurting U.S. exporters and benefits Asians. If I am right, it means, that U.S. is trying to get out of crisis alone, climbing on others backs. It won't work. Not in the age of modern economic integration. Things can even get worse. This also means, that congress will not give IMF money. Well, maybe, they will give part of it, but not the whole 18 bln. I am still thinking, if there is a reason to lower rates, and why there is so much speculation about it. There is a possibility, that U.S. will try to hurt Asian economies even more, to devastate potential competition in the future, and than uncle Sam will emerge with help. So rate cut could also be delayed. Any thoughts on this?