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Technology Stocks : Y2K (Year 2000) Stocks: An Investment Discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (13357)	12/5/1998 10:49:00 AM
From: gg cox	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13949

Hi Jeff In your opinion , any relationship between y2k and the price of gold? gg

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (13357)	12/5/1998 11:41:00 PM
From: SOROS	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13949

Come 1/1/2000, it's going to be a real surprise for someone. Reminds me a song -- something like, "Are you going to stay with the one who loves you, or are you going back to the one you love. Someone's going to cry when they know they lost you. Someone's going to thank their lucky stars above." I remain, SOROS

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (13357)	12/8/1998 8:43:00 AM
From: Hoatzin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13949

Jeff, Biz Week - The same issue has several articles about preparations by financial institutions for the Euro, due to go off with a "Big Bang" on January 4, 1999. I think the probability of some well-publicized Euro systems failures is quite high, which might act as a final wake-up call to those who haven't got their y2k sh…er, act together. I think CHRZ, IMRS, SYNT, CMND, IAIC, ALYD are all buys here, now. Here's a couple of paragraphs from "Y2K Is Worse Than Anyone Thought": <snip>People have been sounding the alarm about the costs of the millennium bug--the software glitch that could paralyze computers come Jan. 1, 2000--for a couple of years. Now, the hard numbers are coming in and, if the pattern holds, they point to an even larger bill than many feared just a few months ago. In the third quarter, the Securities & Exchange Commission for the first time urged companies to disclose what it will cost them to head off the bug. The disturbing news: Many now plan to spend, on average, about 26% more than they thought just months ago. AT&T, for example, had said in early 1997 that it might shell out $300 million. Now, it says it could spend $900 million before Jan. 1, 2000--some $186 million of that in this year's fourth quarter alone. Chase Manhattan Corp. says it will spend $363 million, up 21% from its $300 million second-quarter estimate. And Aetna Inc. is blaming fatter-than-expected Y2K bills--$195 million instead of the $139 million forecasted last summer--for a 6.1% drop in third-quarter profits. Even states are feeling sticker shock: Illinois officials say fixing bugs in the state bureaucracy will cost $114.4 million--up 65% from 1997 estimates. <snip> Now, companies are testing repairs and finding that some don't work properly. And with less than 400 days to go, some are saying they can't make all their fixes on time and will have to find ways to do business, regardless. That could mean, for example, investing more in back-up supplies, as Xerox Corp. is doing, or temporarily shelving just-in-time inventory systems. The sad tale of Samsonite Corp. illustrates how costs can mushroom. After spending $10 million to upgrade its computer system to head off the bug, President Tom Sandler proudly assembled some of the troops to unveil the programmers' Y2K handiwork during a dry-run at a distribution warehouse in suburban Denver. ''We had 20 outside consultants working with us, all telling me everything was going to work fine,'' recalls Sandler. ''But then I walked down to the loading dock to flip on the switch.'' Nothing happened. LOST LUGGAGE. Besides driving up Samsonite's Y2K budget, the glitch messed up the company's entire distribution system, freezing deliveries for the first 20 days of July and hampering operations for months afterward. As a result, many stores were unable to get shipments of suitcases, duffle bags, and computer cases for the busy back-to-school season. Some systems were giving out incorrect information--including sending trucks to the wrong stores and forklifts to the wrong locations in the plant. ''It was frightening,'' says Sandler. The tally: In the second and third quarters, the Y2K snafu ate up roughly $4 million in profits and scuttled $10 million in sales, he says.