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To: terri acey who wrote (9606)	2/9/1999 4:14:00 PM
From: Roy F. Baker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 40688

Terri, Maybe he couldn't spell Yahoo or Raging Bull! Welcome to Ron. Try to explain to Johnny the party is an after PNLK makes it party. I think he still thinks he is in college and can go to a party every weekend. I heard ztect is out shopping for his crown and of course Sunshine and Helene are trying to figure out what to wear. Carole will wear her special nurse's outfit with the magic cape full of PNLK shares. Planter's probably breaking out his dancing shoes too. Roy

To: terri acey who wrote (9606)	2/9/1999 6:02:00 PM
From: Warren A. Wilbur, Jr.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 40688

Terri, there was another, even better article ref. GB & CAL. ya, seen the one on day trading. See ya

To: terri acey who wrote (9606)	2/9/1999 6:38:00 PM
From: Warren A. Wilbur, Jr.	Respond to of 40688

BTW, here is the article Terri was talking about (Terri, just take me out to the parking lot and shoot me ...<G> what's up ? am I not getting a dance with you now that I have one with Lori <G> ???? AS Roy P.M'd me, he had heard that Lori's shares are nice...but I did promise not to touch ...<S>) Anyway: Day Trading Offers Both Anguish and Euphoria Most of the time, I am the nag who uses this column to advocate trading little, diversifying broadly and looking to the long term. But at the behest of an editor, for three days last week I ditched those cherished beliefs and became -- dare I admit it? -- an online "day trader." Not for real, mind you. My trades weren't actually executed. Rather, they were tracked in a phantom account set up with the cooperation of Suretrade (www.suretrade.com), a Lincoln, R.I., online brokerage firm owned by Fleet Financial Group. The idea was to get a feel for the new breed of investors who use the Internet to rapidly buy and sell stocks. There was more at stake, however, than just ego and reputation. Under the rules I agreed upon with my editor, I started with a hypothetical $20,000 and had to make 10 purchases over the three days and unwind all of the positions before the third day was over. No shorting of stocks (betting against them), no options, no buying on margin. Just pretending to purchase stocks for cash and later pretending to sell them. The stakes? If I made money on paper, The Wall Street Journal would buy a pair of court-side tickets to a New York Knicks game for me and my editor. And if I lost? I ungraciously offered to spring for a couple of nosebleed seats. Tuesday. The day starts early and with misgivings. If I fail, I will look like a fool. If I succeed, I will only encourage those investors who think they can beat the market. Is it better to succeed or fail? It gets worse. As I make coffee, the radio announces that trading in Standard & Poor's 500-stock futures indicates a weak opening. The market is heading lower, yet I need stocks that will go up enough to compensate for my brokerage commissions. Forget fundamentals. A low price/earnings multiple, rich dividend yield and decent earnings growth aren't enough to propel a stock higher over a day or two. What I need are anxious buyers. To find them, I cruise Silicon Investor (www.techstocks.com), a Web site devoted to stock-market chatter. I can't judge the quality of the insight posted on the bulletin boards. But the emotions are palpable. I look for enthusiasm. Lots of it. Cisco Systems qualifies. Investors are gushing about the quarterly earnings announcement, due after the market closes, and about a possible stock split. Dell Computer, too, is rumored to split. With a few quick computer key strokes, I buy 50 shares of each. But the biggest buzz surrounds Perot Systems, an initial public offering priced at $16 and due to begin trading that day. "Should be a great IPO," pants one Silicon Investor subscriber. "Looking for a nice open." I toss in a market order for 200 shares. By the time I get to the office, my Cisco and Dell positions are underwater, but Perot -- which I had managed to buy at $33.75 -- trades at $47. I rush to sell, but the shares are at $42.50 before my order is filled. The next day, the stock will sprint past $60. Still, I have a profit of more than $1,700. Feeling giddy, I toy with doubling up on my Cisco position but decide against it. The stock looks weak. In truth, the entire market is weak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunges 140 points, then starts to rise. How to ride the rally? I buy some SPDRs, or Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts that track the S&P 500. Adrenaline pumps as the market climbs. Overall, I have a $1,500 gain at the market close. Not bad for a day when the Dow industrials were off 72 points. Declare victory and go home? There's still one last treat, Cisco's earnings announcement. True to promise, the computer-networking company comes in with earnings per share that are a penny above what analysts had expected. But my sense of triumph is crushed along with the stock, which falls in afterhours trading. Apparently, to really impress investors, Cisco needed to beat expectations by at least two pennies. So much for chatter on the Web. I leave the office, feeling queasy. Wednesday. The S&P 500 futures are weak again. That augurs badly for my SPDRs. Meanwhile, Cisco is in for a rough day, and I can't imagine why I ever bought Dell. I tap in an order to Suretrade to sell the SPDRs and vow to dump Cisco and Dell when I get to the office. But before I leave home, the radio reports a deal between Yahoo! and Gateway to allow gateway.net subscribers to create personalized Web pages. I put in an order for 10 Yahoo shares. Once in the office, I find Cisco is down and Yahoo is up. I bail out of both. My Cisco debacle costs me more than $300, but Yahoo made me a quick $110. The market starts moving higher, and discount brokers offering online trading are hot. I hastily buy 100 shares of ETrade Group, which hasn't yet caught fire like Ameritrade Holding, Siebert Financial and others. Later, I discover why. ETrade is in the midst of a computer glitch, which prevents some customers from trading. Instead of joining the rally, ETrade slumps. What to do? I can't bring myself to sell amid the panic and take my ETrade loss, so I seek solace in retailer Perfumania. The stock had been buffeted by bulls and bears and is a hot topic among Silicon Investor groupies. With the stock currently down, I figure the bulls will drive it back up. I also buy 200 CompUSA shares at $12.88. The computer retailer will announce earnings after the close, and the recent strength of the stock -- and the chatter of the bulletin-board crowd -- suggests good things are in store. "I just got back from CompUSA ... and bought another 1,000 shares right away," raves one Silicon Investor subscriber. By Wednesday afternoon, the Dow industrials are soaring, my stocks are sputtering, and my eyes ache from staring at the computer screen. This day-trading stuff is getting old. Feeling drained, I dump Perfumania at a tiny profit and unwind my Dell at a small loss. Meanwhile, I cling to ETrade and CompUSA. Maybe investors will forget about ETrade's problems by Thursday. Maybe CompUSA will beat analysts' expectations. Wednesday, I gave back $300 of Tuesday's profit. I need some good news. Thursday. I help my son get dressed while scanning the messages posted on Silicon Investor. Folks are drooling over CompUSA, which came in with earnings per share that were a penny above what analysts were predicting. In between tying Henry's shoes, I punch in an order to Suretrade for another 300 shares. It looks like my kind of day. I reach the office to find CompUSA had gained 50 cents and ETrade is up more than $4. When CompUSA hits $14, I unload 200 shares. But I hang onto the other 300 shares, hoping for a little more. I also keep my ETrade, looking for it to hit $60. It had been there briefly and I don't want to sell until it gets there again. Maybe, after the shellacking of the past few days, all technology stocks are due for a rebound. I buy a special breed of SPDRs that tracks the technology sector. Too greedy. The market falls back, CompUSA retreats, and ETrade crumbles as news spreads of more computer glitches. I hang on as the entire market tumbles and then rallies. CompUSA gets back up to $14 and I gratefully unload my 300 shares. That leaves me with just ETrade and my technology SPDRs. When to sell? I have to unload before the trading day's end, which is only hours away. The market roars back in the afternoon, but technology stocks don't budge. Then the market falls. This time, technology stocks join in. I throw in the towel and dump my final two positions at a loss. The bottom line? On a hypothetical basis, after forking over $159 in commissions to Suretrade, I made $1,161 over three days -- while the S&P 500 slipped 2% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was down 4%. But all of my profit and more was accounted for by a single lucky hit with Perot -- and I would have made even more if I hadn't been so quick to sell. Frankly, it's enough to make you want a beer. I'll be sure to get it at the game. Subscribe to The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition for comprehensive, continually updated global business news. Visit Tech Center for exclusive coverage of technology news. Get e-mail alerts on major business developments. 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