Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 39

I C9 Gob took QaoUtions10 rocal SeuritiW10 avMtor'a Guld10 ana Bryant Qninn1 1 Asbury Park Press Feb. 7, 1984 3 "rouble Shooter Fed will tighten money supply Claim now cleared Before my wife died, her doctor from last July's tentative target of 6.5 percent to 9.5 percent The target for M3, a broader definition of money, would remain unchanged at 6 percent to 9 percent. The simplest measure of money often followed by financial analysts is Ml, which includes cash, travelers' checks and checking accounts. The Fed's target range of 4 percent to 8 prcent remains unchanged. But Federal Reserve officials said they would rely more heavily on the other measures, notably the tightened M2 rate.

The restrictive policy was adopted for this year "with the long-range goal of moving to reasonable price stability," a board official said. If the agency meets its targets, the money supply would grow more slowly than in 1983, when the various monetary measures rose from 7.2 percent to 9.7 billion a year in the deficit, far more than the "down payment" suggested by the Reagan administration, cmld reassure the flppnrtal markets and help lower interest rates, Federal Reserve officials said. A substantial reduction is essential "if you want to have an impact" on the rates, said a high-ranking Fed official who asked not to be identified. His blunt assessment will provide ammunition for Martin S. Feldstein, the president's chief economic adviser, who has been warning that deficits would cripple future growth of the economy by stifling investments.

Feldstein is at odds with Secretary of the Treasury Donald T. Regan and with the White House, where officials proclaim that deficits are not an imminent threat. The administration has asked for congressional approval of a "down payment" deficit reduction of $100 billion spread over three years, an amount regarded as inade quate by Federal Reserve officials. "Unless decisive action is taken," the federal government will be pushing into the credit market this year at the same time business demand for loans is growing, the board's report warned. Because the Treasury pays whatever rate the market demands to obtain funds, its actions can drive up the whole level of the market.

The high rates, in turn, can crowd out the person who wants to buy a house or a car or the business that needs money to buy machinery. Fearful of the possible rekindling of inflation and the damaging impact of huge deficits, the Federal Reserve has decided to push a bit harder on the monetary brakes for 1984. Its report yesterday said that this year's target for the growth in M2, a key measure of the money supply that includes cash, checks and money market accounts, would be 6 percent to 9 percent, reduced The Los Angeles Timet WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve Board, worried about "temptations" for the economy to return to rapid inflation, announced yesterday that it would tighten restrictions on the money supply this year, a policy likely to keep interest rates high both for consumers and businesses. The economy will keep expanding despite the stringent policy, although growth will be slower than in 1983, the Federal Reserve predicted in its semiannual report to Congress. But housing and business investment, both dependent on borrowed money, will "operate well below their underlying potential," the report said.

Those who want to borrow money will be victims of the massive federal budget deficit, which will "drain off" most of the savings in the economy, the report noted in a lengthy discussion of the deficit. Only a major cut of $50 billion to $100 1 Market loss worse since early 1983 thing went wrong. He doesn't intend to do anything for you, since that is what the contract provided. Cassette ordered On Oct. 19 I sent a $22.95 check for a cassette, "History of Rock," which I haven't received.

Ms. C.C., Brick Township You ordered from a Pennsylvania address but the company which processes orders is National Media, 1605 John Fort Lee, N.J. National Media uses the mailing address, History of Rock, Box 1839, Ft. Lee, N.J. 07024.

At first, the company replied by mail suggesting you check and file a claim with your post office. However, this column contacted Kenneth Adams at the company. He said he will call you to be sure your mailing address was correctly noted on the company's shipping order. He says that if you haven't received the tape by now, another one will be sent. The cassette tapes are sent by fourth class mail.

Gives up diet I tried a weight reducing plan that I heard about through the mail. I bought the reducing product but now have decided to give up the whole thing. The reason is I have waited four months to receive the natural food substance in capsule form. D.C., Sea Bright The company wrote to this column and said a $29.90 refund will be sent to you in the near future. If you don't get it, please advise.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Readers are requested to submit photocopies of valuable documents and the Asbury Park Press cannot be responsible for their return. Because many companies and government agencies often refuse to reply unless wouldn't accept payment arrangements by Medicare assignment. He said I would be responsbile for paying her billi bat I was also told Medicare would pay me. I sent a death certificate to the Medicare office in September. I have spoken to the Medicare office at least eight times since.

The doctor continues to send me bills ask- ing for payment. Toms River 1 Jack Gamble, Medicare claims director, reviewed your file and 1 found everying in order. He regrets the delay you experienced and said you will receive payment soon. As-is means as-is I bought a 1980 Ford F-100 pick-up track from a Datsun dealer. The track's odometer read 43,000 miles.

I bought the track "as is" on the recommendation of the salesman who claimed to have known the track prior to its being received on a trade in. Supposedly, the previ-: ons owner had taken excellent care of this track. I felt a big dealership wouldn't sell a track that wasn't road wor- thy. Was I wrong. Next day I found the windshield wipers didn't work and the born didn't blow.

Two weeks ago I had to have the head gaskets and seals on the engine replaced to stop the oil leaks. Now they are replacing the I clutch and throw-out bearing. As of now I am in for $800 in repairs, not counting the clutch and i engine bearing replacement. They have me over a barrel, since I bought the track as is, but it was their salesman who recom-, mended it. Can you get the dealer to go 5050 on repairs? Neptune Next time be warned when a dealership offers you a fairly new i vehicle "as is" for $5,431.

The dealer's used car manager said you signed several documents which included the provision, "as is." He says you told the salesman you couldn't see paying $350 to cover the costs of repairs if any L- The Associated Press NEW YORK The stock market took its worst pounding in more than a year yesterday, with the continuation of a selloff that has rolled up $133 billion in losses over the past month. Analysts blamed the slide on a growing perception that huge deficits and a restrictive Federal Reserve Board would combine to keep interest rates high, making returns more attractive for bonds than stocks and cooling off the pace of economic growth. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, which tumbled 16.85 points Friday, plunged another 22.72 points to close at 1,174.31. It was the lowest finish for the stock market's best-known indicator since the 1,168.27 close of last Aug. 9, and the steepest one-day slide since the 22.81-point fall of Jan.

24, 1983. Since Jan. 6, the blue-chip average has plummeted 112.33 points. The Wilsnire Associates' 5,000 Equity Index, which measures the market value of 5,000 NYSE, American Stock Exchange, and over-the-counter issues, fell $30.37 billion. It stood at $1,770 trillion on Jan.

6, but has since fallen to $1,637 trillion. The final tally of nationwide trading in NYSE-listed issues showed 339 stocks up, Spotlight Stocks The Associated Press NEW YORK Sato dosing price and net change of the most active New York Stock Exchange and 17 108 2 37 69 1'4 64 26 1'4 31 1 304 17 29 14 '4 55'4 4 56 Vi 52't 1 33 1 American Stock Exchange Issues: wl IBM 1532,700 1,699,000 1,406,200 1,508,800 1,243,900 Exxon Gen Motors MerilLyn AMRCorp 'Amerlfln -AmEl Pw 1,236400 1,172,200 1,133,200 Chrysler 1,026,700 944,200 885,700 879,500 847,000 840,200 NotSeml HousNa Gas GulfCorp GenlElect SecrsRoeb Amex Leaders WongLobB 50X600 27', ii 312,700 6e 2'4 279,000 21 278,200 12', IVi 22Z300 20 165,900 3 148.700 3's '4 140,000 14 peiroLew DorchstGas Verbatim TIEComm DomePtrl InstrSvst KevPhorm CvprusCp 128,900 3 Not Patent 12000 23 1,373 down and 313 unchanged. The NYSE's composite index of all its listed common stocks fell 1.55 to 91.43. No group of stocks escaped the selling spree. Losers included International Business Machines, 2 to 108; Exxon, at 37; General Motors, 1 at 69; Merrill Lynch, 1 at 26; AMR, 1 at 31; and Sears, Roebuck, 1 at 33.

Volume on the Big Board topped 100 million shares for the 10th consecutive session. Lee Idleman, director of research at Dean Witter Reynolds said the stock market was suffering from "the worst of both worlds" that interest rates are high and might rise further, and that economic growth appears to be slowing down and may slow further. "Major accounts are no longer willing to stay with stocks," said Larry Wachtel, a stock market strategist at Prudential-Bache Securities Inc. "They are very enamored with high yields in the bond market." In the bond market, interest rates rose as the Treasury Department began a record week of government borrowing. Analysts said traders also were disturbed by the infighting within the Reagan administration over the impact of huge deficits on interest rates.

Financial economists also said hopes have faded that the Federal Reserve Board would soon consider accommodating lower interest rates. "There's no relief in sight on the interest rates front," Wachtel said. The "new" American Telephone Telegraph that emerged from the Jan. 1 break up of the Bell System topped the active list as of the 4 p.m. EST close of the NYSE, unchanged at 17 in trading on a when-issued basis.

More than 2.5 million shares changed hands. Commodore International, a big loser last week, was one of the few winners yesterday, climbing 3 to 31. Getty OU, the object of a $10.1 billion takeover bid by Texaco, climbed 1 to 123. Texaco fell 1 to 39. Big Board volume reached 109.09 million shares, against 109.10 million Friday turnover in NYSE-listed issues, including trades in those stocks on regional exchanges and in the over-the-counter market, totaled 128.00 million shares.

Standard Poor's index of 400 industrials fell 3.37 to 177.46, and SAP's 500-stock composite index was down 2.83 at 158.08. At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index was off 4.10 at 209.24. V. J. heating oil price reaches record high readers specifically authorize disclosure of information, readers should include a sentence in their letters authorizing release of information.

Trouble Shooter cannot accept inquiries by telephone. why fuel oil prices had jumped by 20 cents a gallon since mid-December. Rep. Matthew Rinaldo, the Elizabeth Republican, said the FTC agreed to investigate and he expected to receive preliminary findings in several weeks. Coleman said he has sent letters to major oil companies seeking explanation for the price hikes while the companies have high crude oil inventories, stable crude oil prices, and weather conditions, while slightly worse than normal, have not been severe.

"The domestic oil companies have been able to blame their past price increases on international suppliers who have raised crude oil prices or cut back on production, but no such situation exists today," Coleman said. Officials at the New Jersey Petroleum Council could not be reached for comment yesterday. Leonard Ruppert, the group's associate director, has said that dealers, who have not been keeping large inventories, have had to buy fuel oil on the spot market, where prices are more expensive than those quoted by regular suppliers. Ruppert also cited the winter's unusually cold weather. Associated Press Presidential economist Martin S.

Feldstein pats his economic report on the table prior to testifying before the House Budget Committee in Washington yesterday. Feldstein repeated his contention that accumulating a persistent high federal budget deficit threatens the nation's economic recovery and said his views are just "very standard economics." Feldstein won't recant budget deficit theory The Associated Press NEWARK The average retail price if home heating oil reached a record high if $1.28 per gallon yesterday, said officials the state Department of Energy. Jim Putnam, the department's chief of itaff, said state officials have surveyed oil rices only since the 1979 oil shortage, but jelieve yesterday's price was "probably the highest it's ever been." The previous record was about $1.27 per gallon, recorded in March 1981, offi-flfalfl ssdd The lowest prices recorded this winter ere between 99 cents and $1.01 in December, Putnam said. He added that the increases in prices between December and toe end of January would cost the state's fuel oil consumers an additional $70 million. Energy officials said about 45 percent or slightly more than 1 million of the state's households use oil heat.

State Energy Commissioner Leonard loleman and members of the state's congressional delegation last week asked the Federal Trade Commission to try to learn Dollar gains in U.S.; prices for gold lower Perlmans sell interest in Dunes hotel-casino N.Y., a member of the Budget Committee. In substance, what Feldstein is thinking and saying differs from the statements of his administration colleagues mostly on technical issues of economics. Feldstein said yesterday, for example, that deficits the size of those projected by Reagan's fiscal 1985 budget (about $180 billion for this year and in each of the next three) force up interest rates and contribute to the record U.S. trade deficit. Last week, Regan blamed other factors as primarily responsible for the trade imbalance.

So Feldstein worked through the weekend to prepare a refutation in which be called his view "part of the bedrock of economic analysis." It is in tone and emphasis that Feld-stein's message particularly stands out. He told the House Budget Committee, for example, that the administration's relatively optimistic economic forecast for the rest of the decade depends on action to reduce deficits. When asked what would happen if such action was not taken and the economy proved weaker than predicted, Feldstein said that the 1989 deficit could exceed $300 billion, a number the White House would surely rather not bear. He told the committee that the fiscal 1985 budget proposed by Reagan last week should be considered as nothing more than a starting point for the negotiations with Congress, which are aimed at deficit reductions of $100 billion over three years. Last week, by contrast, White House spokesman Larry Speakes said, "The president's budget is the president's budget and will continue to be." At the same time, all administration officials concede that compromise will be necessary if the negotiations are to succeed.

Regardless of the controversy, Feldstein has no intention of keeping quiet. He has his academic reputation to think about (he plans to return to his teaching post at Harvard in September) and, besides, be told reporters that he had not heard any criticism from Reasran himself. The Los Angeles Times WASHINGTON Presidential economic adviser Martin S. Feldstein, under attack within the Reagan administration for his crusade against enormous federal budget deficits, refused yesterday to keep quiet. Feldstein, chairman of President Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers, had been ordered by the White House staff to cancel a scheduled television appearance Sunday.

Two days before that, Secretary of Treasury Donald T. Regan had advised Congress to throw away the council's annual economic blueprint. But that did not stop Feldstein. He gave the House Budget Committee an outspoken rendition of the dangers of continuing massive deficits, even if others in the Reagan administration would rather not hear it. Feldstein insisted to reporters after his testimony that he was feeding Congress nothing more than Reagan's line: that the deficits in Reagan's own fiscal 1985 budget must be brought down by the bipartisan negotiations between Congress and the administration, which are scheduled to begin tomorrow.

"I'm confident that what I'm saying is consistent with administration policy," he said. He denied that he had been "muzzled" when the White House staff ordered him off the ABC News show, "This Week with David Brinkley." "The White House decided they wanted to have one person on TV yesterday," he said, and that one person was Vice President George Bush on NBC's "Meet the Press." Nor would he agree that his message is one that no one else in the administration has the political will to deliver. "Is there any senior member of the administration," he asked, "who has not said what I've said?" From Congress, the answer was a resounding yes. "Your ability to say what you think is rather refreshing in this town," said Rep. Stephen J.

Solarz, D- i The Associated Press NEW YORK The dollar rose against other major currencies in heavy U.S. trading yesterday after losing ground in European activity. Gold prices were mostly lower on both continents. Dealers attributed the dollar's rebound in the United States to a report by the Federal Reserve Board that foreign exchange dealers said provided little room for a near-term decline in U.S. interest rates.

David Arbesman, first vice president of Prudential-Bache Securities said currency traders interpreted the report as showing "there is no way whatsoever that the Fed is going to ease" its grip on credit availability in the near future, a move that might allow interest rates to fall. Gold Silver The SELECTED New York price quotations for goU and slhw yesterday Indudod: Handy It Harmon: 1380.90, off SU0. Engottord: 1311.20, oft S2J0 fabricated: $40026, off 12.42. GOLD COM Douh PtioiQ Quotations; Krugerran 1 troy ox. 1404.00, off 15.00.

Maple Leaf, 1 troy ox. (404.00, off 15.00. Men. JO Peso, 1 troy or 147175, off 14.00. Aim.

100 crown, troy ox, SMLOa, off U75. Handy A Harmon: U.765, off 0.111 EngstKrd: SMIO. off OJWSi fabricated: 19.427, off 0.026. The dollar opened at 233.70 yen in Tokyo today, up from yesterday's close of 233.28. In London, the British pound inched up to $1.4266 from $1.4265 late Friday.

Sterling fell nearly two cents in U.S. trading, to $1-4165 from $1.4330. Other dollar rates in Europe compared with Friday included: 2.2137 Swiss francs, down from 2.2145; 2.7475 West German marks, down from 2.7530; 8.4340 French francs, down from 8.4495; 1,690.50 Itailian lire, up from 1,688.75 lire; 3.0960 Dutch guilders, down from 3.1107; and 1.2458 Canadian dollars, down from 1.2468 Other dollar rates in U.S. trading as of 4 p.m. EST and compared with Friday were: 2.7595 West German marks, up from 2.7320; 2.2245 Swiss francs, up from 2.1910; 233.55 Japanese yen, up from 232.60; 8.4650 French francs, up from 8.40; and 1.2463 Canadian dollars, up from 1.2447.

In bullion trading, meanwhile, gold fell in Zurich to $379.75 a troy ounce from $383.50 late Friday. In London, gold declined to $381.50 from $384.50. In New York, gold for current delivery on the Commodity Exchange fell $4.30 to $381.80 an ounce. Republic National Bank later quoted gold as of 4 p.m. EST at $381 an ounce, down $4.75 from Friday.

Gold opened at $380.90 in Hong Kong today, down $1.63 from yesterday. The price of silver also fell, closing in London at $8.79 a troy ounce compared with $8.8150 late Friday. On New York's Comex, silver for February delivery dropped 18.9 cents, to $8,764. )' i will be the second-largest shareholder in the casino's publicly traded parent, Dunes Hotels Casinos Inc. The Shenker interest will be diluted by nearly half to about 18 percent when the company issues Anderson's new stock at the completion of the deal.

The sale is subject to regulatory approvals. However, the fact that Anderson already has a casino owner's license in Nevada is expected to speed the process. A former attorney for the late James R. Hoffa when Hoffa headed the Teamsters Union, Shenker received millions of dollars in loans from the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund in the 1960s and 1970s for his Nevada and California real estate and other business interests. The Perlmans had pumped about $35 million into the Dunes since selling their interest in Caesars World.

New Jersey casino regulators had refused to license them or allow Caesars to continue operating its Boardwalk Regency in Atlantic City if the Perlmans remained as officers or shareholders. New Jersey turned down the Perlmans largely because of their personal and business dealings with reputed organized crime figures. I The Los Angeles Times i LOS ANGELES Accepting a loss of about $10 million on the transaction, Clifford and Stuart Perlman have sold their jtghts to a 41 percent interest in the Dunes hotel-casino in Las Vegas to wealthy Sacramento Valley tomato grower John Anderson for $25 million. Clifford Perlman said here yesterday that he will devote his time to Regent Air, a new Los Angeles-based luxury airline. He jnd bis brother founded Regent last year rith some of the $90 million they received pom selling their interest in another casino operator, Los Angeles-based Caesars World which they founded.

For more than a year the Perlmans had run into negotiating hurdles with Dunes chairman Morris Shenker in their bn-again, off-again deal to take over the Joss-plagued Dunes. Anderson, who since 1981 has owned $he smaller Maxim hotel-casino in Las Vegas, is expected to succeed Shenker as chairman. However, Shenker said in a telephone Interview yesterday that he will continue tdi be active in the Dunes and his family fi V..