Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 20

Today's tip 6B Saturday, December 1, 1990 Reno Gazette-Journal BUSINESS EDITOR: STEVE FALCONE, 788-6322 me The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors will send you a list of fee-only planners in your area. Write to them at 1130 Lake Cook Road, Suite 105, Buffalo Grove, III. 60089. ush speech sends Dow up, oil down The price of fuel Crude oil prices have fluctuated since Iraq Invaded Kuwait Aug. 2.

Here Is a look at how prices have changed. Benchmark expect that December is not going to be as strong as November and it's going to be heavily skewed to the news in the Middle East." Henwood said investors have to recognize that "the economy is weak" and any further near-term gains by the stock market will be limited. Bruce Watts, director of research at Tucker Anthony Inc. in Boston, had a more positive outlook. "There are really quite a lot of factors that could sustain the growth," said Watts, citing investors who were sitting with cash on the sidelines and money managers who might have the need for "window dress New York Diny pfljfe per rfotHHffl; By Brian Tumulty and Karen BenezraGannett News Service Receding fears of war energized the stock and oil markets Friday, as investors drove stock prices higher and oil prices downward in heavy trading.

President Bush's decision to pursue a diplomatic solution to the Persian Gulf crisis a day after the U.N. Security Council gave Saddam Hussein a Jan. 15 deadline to withdraw from Kuwait created 46 days of breathing room for Wall Street investors and oil traders, analysts said. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials leaped 40.84 points to close at 2,559.65 Friday, while crude oil prices dropped more than $4.06 a barrel to close at $28.85 on the New York Commodity Exchange. "It looks like the war scare is out of the market at least for the next few weeks," said Michael Metz.

market analyst at Op-penheimer Co. "I think the bear market ended in October and we're in (an) environment where investors are willing to respond to any positive surprises." Many investors say an economic plateau is likely to last through the end of the year. Reasons include the dollar's recent stability in foreign exchange trading, and the weakening economy, which increases the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will tYou have the market waffling between the conviction that there will be a war in January and news that maybe there will be a peaceful resolution. David Henwoodmarket analyst move again to lower interest rates. "You have the market waffling between the conviction that there will be a war in January and news that maybe there will be a peaceful resolution," said David Hen-wood, director of research at Raymond James Associates in St.

Petersburg, Fla. "It's a tricky market." However, the 500 rose 5.8 percent in November, marking the first monthly increase in that broader index since June. The 500 had dropped 0.7 percent in July, another 9.4 percent in August, 5 percent in September and 0.7 percent in October, said Henwood. "During the market's rally in November, there was some bargain hunting not just among the Blue Chip institutional names, but among some of the secondary stocks as well," said Henwood. "I would ing, or adding to their portfolios for the end of the year.

Adding to Watt's optimism was his expectation that fewer stockholders will sell their holdings for year-end tax savings. Trading volume on the New York Exchange was 192.35 million shares, up from 140.92 million on Thursday. Gainers outnumbered losers in nationwide trading by an 8 to 3 ratio with 1,126 up, 426 down and 462 unchanged. Among the broader indexes, the NYSE composite gained 2.92 to 276.06; the 500 rose 5.80 at 322.22, and the over-the-counter NASDAQ composite index rose 3.31 to 359.06. W7 $25 Nov.

30 $23- i i i i i i i i i i i i i i -Wov-J Gannett News Service On the road again 4th straight drop in index indicates recession By Oswald JohnstonLos Angeles Times WASHINGTON The U.S. government's chief barometer of future economic activity fell in October for the fourth straight month, the Department of Commerce reported Friday, foretelling a recession that most economists believe has already started. The 1.2 percent plunge in the index of leading indicators came as Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan repeated his assertion that the U.S. economy is still not in a recession, but that "it may get there." Analysts generally agree that three consecutive dips in the index means that a recession is on the way, and the October drop followed declines of 0.8 percent and 1.2 percent in September and August. In ad AtaS (l A'A-1- ttctt iimtw iim wimnii 4 Jill Bush, market officials: Economy needs surgery BOCA RATON, Fla.

Top officials from both the Bush administration and Wall Street declared Friday that major surgery is needed to treat the ills of the nation's banking and financial system. And they stepped up their calls for action by Congress to deal with financial problems they say go beyond the current slump in the economy and the savings and loan crisis. "The legal and regulatory structure of our financial system is outmoded, burdensome and inefficient," said Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady, addressing the annual convention of the Securities Industry Association, Wall Street's main trade group. "Fundamental reforms are needed." "The issue is not whether we should reform the financial system," asserted Richard Breeden, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. "The question is how." Money for bank insurance WASHINGTON Treasury Secretary Nicholas F.

Brady acknowledged Friday that the fund insuring commercial bank deposits may need a cash infusion, but pledged the money will come from the industry, not taxpayers. Brady, in a speech to the Securities industry Association, said his department was "evaluating a range of contingency plans that would shore up the Bank Insurance Fund." However, he said, "any such plan would draw only on banking industry resources to assure the soundness of the fund without imposing a burden on the taxpayer." MCA to cost $5.8 billion WASHINGTON Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. expects to spend about $5.8 billion, most of it through short-term borrowing, to acquire U.S. entertainment giant MCA documents disclosed Friday. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Matsushita said it expected to raise $1 billion of the estimated purchase price through internally generated funds and the remaining $4.8 billion through the sale of commercial paper, or short-term corporate IOUs.

In previous reports, the deal was valued at more than $6 billion. The deal, the largest ever Japanese purchase of a U.S. company, was announced Monday but some of the details had not been previously disclosed. Big Three outlook worsens DETROIT Other automakers may not match General Motors Corp gloomy proclamation of potential fourth-quarter losses, but the Big Three will keep inventories slim as the economy stumbles, analysts and the companies say. Ford Motor Co said Friday that based on temporary plant shutdowns so far this quarter and those expected for the rest of the year, it was revising predicted North American production downward bv 139.000, to 858.000 cars and trucks a 13.9 percent drop from its estimate a month earlier.

GM officials, meanwhile. Thursday predicted the first quarterly red ink on operations at the world's largest manufacturer since the 1981 recession. Chairman Robert Stempel said that the company would cut fourth-quarter and truck production by 111.000, to a total of 1.07 million vehicles for the period. Las Vegas' Marina closes LAS VEGAS The MGM Marina Hotel closed its doors Friday to make way for construction of the $750 million MGM theme park and hotel-casino. Gaming ceased in the Marina's casino at 7 a.m..

where a handful of casino executives supervised the emptying of the 450 slot and video poker machines. A Las Vegas woman hit a final $250 jackpot about 30 seconds before a buzzer went off to signal that gambling was closed. About 300 employees worked through the Thanksgiving holiday at the Strip resort, but the number'was less than 100 when operations closed The resort's 700-room highrise tower will be the only thing left standing as the rest of the structures will be demolished to make way for the planned 5.000-room resort. Wire service reports 5k wry 'rZL Si my. Xb 'T r.

A iimmmiiiiimiiiiiii Index of Leading Indicators Saenay adfusmd Index, 1962 100 -v dition, the index for July was revised to a slight decline of 0.1 percent from the previously reported no change. Although President Bush and top administration officials continue to avoid referring to the current slump as anything other than a "slowdown" or a "downturn," most economists now believe that a recession started last summer. "The leading indicators seem to be lagging a bit," said David Marilyn NewtonGaeile Journal READY TO MOVE: Resource Development Co. of the South Virginia Street hotel-casino. The first two Sparks prepares to move a guest room building at the buildings have already been moved' the second two are Quality Inn Reno as part of the $25 million expansion of set to be moved today.

Federal excise tax on gasoline hits the pumps ft MM 0 LJLJ il II II II II ILitlHI 1 A JASO 1989 1990 Oct. '89 Sept. '90 Oct '90 144.4 I 143.3 141.6 Sow Ompt ol Comrwtm Wyss, an ana- Mwm r- By Susan SkorupaGa? ette-Journal First it was the Iraqis, then came the oxygenated fuel. Now it's the federal government shoving up the cost of gasoline. And if you waited until this morning for that end-of-week gas tank fill-up, you waited too long.

Beginning today, the federal excise tax on gasoline is 5 cents a gallon higher 14.1 cents instead of 9.1 cents. On Friday, some service stations reported increased business as Truckee Meadows residents and visitors rushed to fill their tanks and avoid the higher tax for one last tankful. Another nickel a gallon is scheduled to be added on July 1. 1991. as part of the tax hike approved last month by President Bush and the Congress.

Area service stations, which get their supplies from California refineries, also got a price boost this week of about seven-tenths cent per gallon from the State of California for oil spill prevention funds. "It's been busy most of the week, but it's been busier today," Roger Jenks of Lakeside 76 said Friday afternoon. "More of the business is fill-ups instead of people buying gas $5 at a time." lyst with DRI-McGraw Hill, a Lexington. forecasting company. "It's telling us recession is coming, when we've been in one for three months now." "The indicators failed to give us a signal ahead of time, but rather at the same time we were falling into recession," said Bruce Steinberg, an economist with Merril Lynch in New York.

"This index doesn't tell us anything we don't know, these days." Allen Sinai, an economist with the Boston said that he now views the leading indicators as more of a ratification of current trends than a reliable guide to economic pertormance a quarter or two down the road. "Four down months in a row in the LEI is pretty definitive (of a recession), along with everything else we know about the economy," Sinai said. "This time around, the index is sinking at the same time that the economy is sinking," Sinai said. "In the old days, this would signal recession through the second quarter next year and perhaps into the third. But because of the changes in the structure of the economy, this report won't take it out that far." So far this vear.

the index has fallen in six out of 10 months. David PartierGaene Journal BEAT THE TAX: Cars line up Friday as Jim Walsh of Reno fills his tank at USA Petroleum, Plumb Lane and Harvard Way. Exxon stations throughout the Truckee Meadows also reported increased business on Friday, said Art Hinckley, president of Western Ener-getix, a local Exxon distributorship which owns about 25 stations. The new California charges of about 710ths cent a gallon affect Nevada retailers because the fee is added to any gasoline refined in that state, said John Spinola. owner of Mayberry Texaco.

Stocks Nov. 30, 1990 Dow Jones Ind. Close: 2559.65 Volume: 192.35 million PETE BACHELOR, director of convention and tourism sales for the Reno-Sparks Convention Visitors Authority, was recently named president of the Western Association of Convention Visitors Bureaus. Prior to his is a graduate of the University of California Davis. The Western Association of Convention Visitor Bureaus consists of 73 members in 10 Western states and Western Canadian provinces.

LINDA DENNIS has been promoted to the position of manager of Nevada marketing for America West Vacations, the tour package division of America West Airlines. She is responsible for the management and development of America West Vacations' products in Nevada including design, pricing, promotion and distribution strategies. Dennis has more than eight years of previous travel and airline experience with Vacation Ventures of Scottsdale, and Southwest Airlines. America West, the nation'3 10th largest airline, operates a fleet of 96 aircraft. Bally Manufacturing 31 a Caesars World 15Vs -V Circus Circus 47V 1 Golden Nugget 2014 1 Va Hilton Hotels 323 -1- 2 Jackpot Enterprises 7Vi Promus Companies 133 --v Int'l Game Technology 14'.

2 Sands Regent 12V4 United Gaming 2Vi Coeur D'Alene Mines A7' FMC Va Newmont Mining 353 Echo Bay Mines 83 -3fc Alta Gold 2 U.S. Mineral Exploration 1Vs UNITED WAY The United Way of Northern Nevada and the Sierra and the Combined Federal Campaign celebrates the conclusion of the 1990 campaign at a Victory Party. The event will be held at John Ascuaga Nugget Dec. 1 1 in Rose Ballroom B. 5 30 to 8 m.

Total amount raised in the campaign will be announced Those who would like to attend are asked to call United Way. 322-8668 by Friday. CHRISTMAS TREES The Sparks Community Chamber of Commerce hosts a Christmas Tree and Silent Auction at the Silver Club in Sparks The formal event begins at 7 30 m. Donations of $25 per person and tickets may be purchased at 831 or by calling 358-1976. SALUTE SECRETARIES Greater Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce holds rts Salute to Secretaries Luncheon Dec.

7. 11.30 a m. Tickets: $26 per person. Reserved tables available on first-come basis Reservations: 786-3030 I I 2650 2500 -r jt' 2550 -H-f- 2500 -H- 2450 fl 2400 i 2350 2300 i i I 1 2250 MTWTF Bachelor employment with Nov. 2nd RSCVA five years ago, he worked for convention and visitors bureaus in Tucson, Portland, Sacramento, and Houston, Tex.

Complete stocks pages 4-5B He.