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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bill F. who wrote (51562)	3/12/1999 7:43:00 AM
From: gbh	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 132070

Bill, kind of weak argument. Of course they are the back of the food chain. And this would account for a possible OS revenue slow down being seen later than the box makers might see their slowdown. But Office makes up such a significant portion of MSFT revs that any slowdown in corporate spending will be seen more immediately. Why aren't we seeing this, this supposed corporate slowdown at MSFT yet? Gary

To: Bill F. who wrote (51562)	3/12/1999 8:32:00 AM
From: Alias Shrugged	Respond to of 132070

Hi Bill: US banks have been roped into supporting Brazil. Of course, IMF and NY Fed had nothing to do with this: ''We are only providing the space for the meeting,'' said a Fed official. biz.yahoo.com NEW YORK, March 11 (Reuters) - Major North American commercial banks gave Brazil a gentleman's promise on Thursday to maintain vital credit lines to the beleaguered Latin American country as it fights a deep financial crisis. ''The banks have expressed support for Brazil,'' said Citigroup Vice Chairman William Rhodes after a meeting with Brazil Central Bank President Arminio Fraga in New York. U.S. and Canadian banks promised to hold trade and other forms of credit to Brazil steady at least till the end of August but shied away from a formal agreement. ''This gives us six months and by then we hope our balance of payments situation will be normal,'' Fraga told reporters after a three-hour meeting with bankers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Germany's major banks were expected to make an announcement pledging similar support early on Friday after discussions with Finance Minister Pedro Malan, Brazilian officials said. Stanley Fischer, deputy chief of the International Monetary Fund, which has organized a $41.5 billion loan package for Brazil, joined the Brazilian team in the pitch to top North American banks. Participants included officials of Chase Manhattan Bank, Bank of America, Bank of New York, Bank of Nova Scotia and BankBoston. International bank lending to Brazil, primarily in the form of inter-bank lines, totaled close to $28 billion, including lending from Japanese and European institutions, Fraga confirmed. Maintaining access to foreign currency loans is vital to Brazil's effort to climb out of a two-sided crisis that requires the country to avoid further depreciation of the currency at the same time it cuts government spending to narrow the budget gap, Wall Street analysts said. But major Western banks, facing pressure from shareholders after losses from lending to hedge funds and Russia, are reluctant to expand credit lines to Brazil or make firm commitments about maintaining current loans, which are only half of what they were last summer. In a carefully worded statement, the participating banks said they ''welcomed the strengthening of the Brazilian program, and signaled their intention to maintain their interbank and trade lines to Brazil.'' Latin America's largest economy slid into chaos last fall as investors withdrew from all but the safest emerging markets following an effective default by Russia on domestic debt. As foreign and Brazilian investors pulled their money out, Brazil hemorrhaged about $30 billion in foreign exchange reserves, forcing the IMF and Western governments to step in with a $41.5 billion rescue package. With the Brazilian currency, the real, remaining under pressure despite the IMF efforts, the central bank was forced to abandon a long-standing policy of maintaining the real in a predetermined range. The turnabout prompted Central Bank President Gustavo Franco to resign, paving the way for Fraga, a former aide to financier George Soros to become central bank head. Fraga said he would not shy from intervening regularly in the currency markets to defend the real, which hovered at just over 1.8 real to the dollar in the past few days. Under an agreement with the IMF, the central bank can spend up to $8 billion in defending the currency -- a measure that should give some comfort to international lenders who worry about another foreign exchange crisis. Even as bankers and Brazilians worked out new arrangements at the meeting, New York Federal Reserve Bank chief William McDonough stayed out of the discussions. He met Fraga, Economic Policy director Amaury Bier and other Brazilian officials over lunch. ''We are only providing the space for the meeting,'' said a Fed official. After criticism of the Fed's role in orchestrating a bank bailout of the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management, the U.S. central bank has avoided being seen as strong-arming banks into any major financial rescue initiative. Citibank's Rhodes has agreed to act as the coordinator for international banks.

To: Bill F. who wrote (51562)	3/12/1999 11:58:00 AM
From: Knighty Tin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Bill and All, I wrote my food chain note before seeing Bill's. We temporary tech bears are starting to talk too much alike. <g> MB

To: Bill F. who wrote (51562)	3/12/1999 8:34:00 PM
From: Kailash	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Bill - nice writeup today - "Joe went on to make the point that anyone who talks about these things, and then the stocks go up, is just plain wrong. And anyone's who been negative is just plain wrong because the market's gone up." You bring up the personal argument - 'Wouldn't you rather know the bad news in advance?' There's also the economic argument - the stock market is supposed to function as an asset allocator, removing funds from companies that make inefficient use of it and funneling it to the most productive parts of the economy. If we don't get accurate information about poor performers, people will be investing in companies that don't deserve the funds - a sure way to run the whole economy and not just your personal finances into the ditch. People like Joe Kernan make it seem as if you're out of touch with the market and hurting the economy if you reveal negative information about a stock; nothing could be further from the truth. Kailash