Investment Figures of the Week

Investment Figures of the Week

COMMENTARYThe stock market was cheered by reports of a rise in U.S. personal income andspending in October, as well as by gains in the Japanese stock market. Optimismthat Japan's economy would stabilize sparked a 2.4% gain for the Dow Jonesindustrial average on Dec. 1, and the Dow revisited 8000 for the first time inalmost six weeks. Asian markets were firmer, as South Korea agreed to a $55billion bailout led by the International Monetary Fund. Gold prices continuedto fall on signs that inflation was dead in the water.

% change

U.S. MARKETS Latest Week Year

Dow Jones Industrials 8032.0 2.9 25.1

NASDAQ Combined Composite 1615.1 1.6 24.5

S&P MidCap 400 328.8 2.8 28.5

S&P SmallCap 600 179.4 1.7 23.8

S&P SuperComposite 1500 209.6 2.7 30.5

% change

SECTORS Latest Week Year

Bloomberg Information Age 302.6 2.6 28.5

S&P Financials 119.0 5.8 45.2

S&P Utilities 219.8 0.2 9.9

PSE Technology 304.9 1.3 20.9

% change

FOREIGN MARKETS Latest Week Year

London (FT-SE 100) 4970.7 2.2 22.9

Frankfurt (DAX) 4082.9 6.1 42.5

Tokyo (NIKKEI 225) 16,585.5 4.5 -19.7

Hong Kong (Hang Seng) 11,207.6 8.5 -16.6

Toronto (TSE 300) 6681.2 0.8 13.0

Mexico City (IPC) 5127.9 7.1 51.2

Week Year

FUNDAMENTALS Latest ago ago

S&P 500 Dividend Yield 1.57 % 1.61 % 1.94 %

S&P 500 P/E Ratio (Last 12 mos.) 24.6 23.9 20.8

S&P 500 P/E Ratio (Next 12 mos.)* 19.1 18.7 16.2

First Call Earnings Revision* -1.01 % -0.98 % -0.95

Week

TECHNICAL INDICATORS Latest ago Reading

S&P 500 200-day average 880.8 876.9 Positive

Stocks above 200-day average 69.0 % 68.0 % Neutral

Options: Put/call ratio 0.60 0.65 Neutral

Insiders: Vickers Sell/buy ratio 2.75 2.81 Negative

BEST-PERFORMING Last Last 12

GROUPS month% months%

Manufactured Housing 22.6 Trucking 156.0

Regional Telephone Cos. 15.5 Invest. Banking/Brkrge. 85.7

Drug Chains 12.8 Savings & Loans 77.9

Personal Loans 11.4 Homebuilding 61.8

Long-Dist. Telecom. 11.1 Drug Chains 59.0

WORST-PERFORMING Last Last 12

GROUPS month% months%

Gold Mining -20.6 Engineering & Constr. -40.1

Metals -13.9 Gold Mining -38.3

Oil & Gas Drilling -12.4 Metals -29.6

Oil Exploration & Prod. -9.7 Photography/Imaging -24.4

Oil-Well Equip. & Svcs, -9.0 Pollution Control -13.7

BLOOMBERG MONEY FLOW ANALYSIS

Rebound ahead? Stocks with most 1-month

significant buying on price weakness Price change

Telebras-ADR 109 -3

Citicorp 128 -1 3/8

Texas Instruments 46 1/2 -11 1/16

Oregon Metallurgical 32 1/8 -1 3/4

Chase Manhattan 114 -4 11/16

Warner-Lambert 118 5/16 -20 13/16

Decline ahead? Stocks with most 1-month

significant selling on price strength Price change

Cisco Systems 86 1/2 1 3/4

Dell Computer 88 5/16 5 1/16

Sun Microsystems 37 13/16 1 3/16

Boeing 54 6 5/16

Starbucks 37 5/8 4 3/16

American International Group 105 15/16 1 13/16

Data: Bloomberg Financial Markets; *First Call Corp.

Latest Week Year

KEY RATES week% ago% ago%

MONEY MARKET FUNDS 5.18 5.17 4.95

90-DAY TREASURY BILLS 5.23 5.30 5.05

6-MONTH BANK CDS 5.20 5.19 5.00

1-YEAR TREASURY BILLS 5.49 5.49 5.39

10-YEAR TREASURY NOTES 5.82 5.85 6.06

30-YEAR TREASURY BONDS 6.01 6.06 6.35

LONG-TERM AA INDUSTRIALS 6.55 6.65 6.90

LONG-TERM BBB INDUSTRIALS 6.97 7.03 7.32

LONG-TERM AA TELEPHONES 6.96 6.93 7.05

BLOOMBERG MUNI YIELD EQUIVALENTS

Taxable equivalent yields on AAA-rated, tax-exempt municipal bonds,

assuming a 31% federal tax rate.

10-yr. bond 30-yr. bond

Latest Last Latest Last

week week week week

GENERAL OBLIGATIONS 4.53% 4.59% 5.11% 5.17%

PERCENT OF TREASURIES 77.85 78.65 85.00 85.46

TAXABLE EQUIVALENT 6.57 6.65 7.41 7.49

INSURED REVENUE BONDS 4.63 4.69 5.30 5.36

PERCENT OF TREASURIES 79.57 80.36 88.16 88.60

TAXABLE EQUIVALENT 6.71 6.80 7.68 7.77

EQUITY FUNDS

Leaders Laggards

Four-week total return % Four-week total return %

Smith Barney Telecom. Inc. 10.5 Matthews Korea -39.8

Countrywide Utility A 9.2 Blanchard Precious Metals -31.2

Am. Cent. Utilities 8.8 Midas -29.5

Princor Utilities A 8.8 Invesco Strategic Gold -27.6

Icon Telecom. & Utilities 7.3 IDS Precious Metals B -24.7

Leaders Laggards

52-week total return % 52-week total return %

Fidelity Select Brokerage 63.3 Midas -61.0

Hartford Capital Apprec. A 62.7 Matthews Korea -60.1

American Heritage 62.5 U.S. Global Investors Gold -59.2

Mutual Shares II 62.0 Invesco Strategic Gold -57.3

Evergreen U.S. Real Est. Y 61.1 Morgan Stan. Instl. Gold A -57.2

EQUITY FUND CATEGORIES

Leaders Laggards

Four-week total return % Four-week total return %

Utilities 5.1 Precious Metals -20.9

Financial 3.6 Natural Resources -9.7

Large-cap Value 2.0 Diversified Emerging Mkts. -7.6

Large-cap Blend 1.9 Pacific/Asia ex-Japan -7.0

Communications 1.1 Technology -5.9

Leaders Laggards

52-week total return % 52-week total return %

Financial 40.2 Precious Metals -44.6

Small-cap Value 29.8 Pacific/Asia ex-Japan -29.9

Real Estate 29.7 Diversified Pacific/Asia -22.8

Mid-cap Value 26.7 Japan -16.7

Large-cap Blend 25.9 Diversified Emerging Mkts. -2.7

All data are as of market close Wednesday, Dec. 3, 1997, unless otherwise

indicated. Industry groups include S&P 500 companies only. Fundamentals,

technical indicators, Bloomberg money flow analysis, and mutual fund returns

are as of Dec. 2. For a more detailed explanation, write to us or E-mail

figures@businessweek.com. NA=Not available **Vanguard Index 500 Fund

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