Investment Figures of the Week

Investment Figures of the Week

COMMENTARY

A seesaw week in the financial markets. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index climbed to a new high on Jan. 29 and the NASDAQ Composite rose to a record on Feb. 1, with strong economic reports giving stocks a kick. Bonds, however, were hurt by the evidence of continued economic strength and sustained their biggest drop on Feb 1. Stocks declined on Feb. 2, led by computer stocks such as Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. But the stock market soared on Feb. 3, after the Federal Reserve left the federal funds rate unchanged.

STOCKS % change

U.S. MARKETS Latest Week Year

Dow Jones Industrials 9366.8 1.8 15.2

NASDAQ Combined Composite 2493.4 3.6 48.4

S&P MidCap 400 378.9 1.1 12.3

S&P SmallCap 600 172.7 0.3 -5.8

S&P SuperComposite 1500 267.2 2.2 23.8

% change

SECTORS Latest Week Year

Bloomberg Information Age 536.4 3.6 67.5

S&P Financials 129.8 2.0 8.9

S&P Utilities 242.2 -2.6 7.0

PSE Technology 512.2 3.7 62.1

% change

FOREIGN MARKETS Latest Week Year

London (FT-SE 100) 5940.3 1.1 6.2

Frankfurt (DAX) 5085.7 0.5 13.3

Tokyo (NIKKEI 225) 14,161.3 -2.0 -16.1

Hong Kong (Hang Seng) 9419.9 -3.1 -8.6

Toronto (TSE 300) 6721.5 1.0 -0.6

Mexico City (IPC) 4060.6 6.4 -15.2

Week Year

FUNDAMENTALS Latest ago ago

S&P 500 Dividend Yield 1.25% 1.26% 1.53%

S&P 500 P/E Ratio (Last 12 mos.) 33.6 32.6 25.6

S&P 500 P/E Ratio (Next 12 mos.)* 24.1 24.3 19.7

First Call Earnings Surprise* 4.04% 4.44% 2.23%

Week

TECHNICAL INDICATORS Latest ago Reading

S&P 500 200-day average 1120.2 1116.4 Positive

Stocks above 200-day average 34.0% 35.0% Positive

Options: Put/call ratio 0.45 0.46 Negative

Insiders: Vickers Sell/buy ratio 1.39 1.43 Positive

Data: Bloomberg Financial Markets; *First Call Corp.

BEST-PERFORMING Last Last 12

GROUPS month% months%

Semiconductors 25.0 Communications Equip. 115.5

Broadcasting 19.2 Specialty Appar. Retailers 104.8

Shoes 19.1 Computer Systems 96.5

Specialty Appar. Retailers 18.1 Broadcasting 82.7

Invest. Banking/Brkrge. 17.8 Genl. Merchandise Chains 81.1

WORST-PERFORMING Last Last 12

GROUPS month% months%

Hospital Management -23.1 Oil & Gas Drilling -51.6

Engineering & Constr. -14.1 Metals -36.6

Tobacco -12.7 Leisure Time -36.4

Specialty Printing -11.9 Oil Exploration & Prod. -35.1

Property-Casual. Insurers -11.6 Hospital Management -33.3

BLOOMBERG MONEY FLOW ANALYSIS

Rebound ahead? Stocks with most 1-month

significant buying on price weakness Price change

IBM 176 3/4 -6 1/4

Lucent Technologies 110 -4 3/16

Telebras-ADR 73 3/4 -1 1/2

Exxon 68 11/16 -3 15/16

American Express 99 11/16 -1 13/16

Procter & Gamble 89 13/16 - 3/16

Decline ahead? Stocks with most 1-month

significant selling on price strength Price change

Microsoft 167 5/8 26 5/8

Cisco Systems 112 25/64 17 5/64

Intel 134 5/8 13 13/16

MCI WorldCom 78 15/16 9 1/16

Dell Computer 108 5/8 34 7/16

Sun Microsystems 106 1/16 16

INTEREST RATES

Latest Week Year

KEY RATES week% ago% ago%

MONEY MARKET FUNDS 4.63 4.66 5.18

90-DAY TREASURY BILLS 4.48 4.46 5.08

6-MONTH BANK CDS 4.36 4.36 5.10

1-YEAR TREASURY BILLS 4.57 4.49 5.22

10-YEAR TREASURY NOTES 4.84 4.67 5.55

30-YEAR TREASURY BONDS 5.26 5.13 5.86

LONG-TERM AA INDUSTRIALS 6.20 6.09 6.51

LONG-TERM BBB INDUSTRIALS 6.94 6.75 6.97

LONG-TERM AA TELEPHONES 6.43 6.35 6.89

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 4.07% 4.08 4.84% 4.82%

PERCENT OF TREASURIES 84.37 87.35 92.15 94.05

TAXABLE EQUIVALENT 5.90 5.91 7.01 6.99

INSURED REVENUE BONDS 4.23 4.23 5.10 5.09

PERCENT OF TREASURIES 87.69 90.56 97.10 99.32

TAXABLE EQUIVALENT 6.13 6.13 7.39 7.38

MUTUAL FUNDS

EQUITY FUNDS

Leaders Laggards

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

Internet 45.5 ProFunds UltraShort OTC Inv. -18.3

IAI Value 37.4 Guinness Flgt. Mainld. China -17.8

Munder NetNet A 32.3 Fidelity Sel. Medical Delivery -15.8

IAI Emerging Growth 30.7 Invesco Latin Amer Gr. -15.3

Van Wagoner Post-Venture 24.9 Ivy South America A -14.7

Leaders Laggards

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

Internet 298.6 Lexington Troika Russia -80.0

ProFunds UltraOTC Inv. 192.2 American Heritage -64.7

Amerindo Technology D 151.4 Potomac OTC/Short -55.6

Grand Prix 141.5 State St. Res. Glob. Res. C -52.2

Dreyfus Technology Growth 112.6 Offitbank Latin Amer. Sel. -50.8

EQUITY FUND CATEGORIES

Leaders Laggards

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

Technology 9.2 Latin America -8.4

Communications 8.0 Natural Resources -5.3

Japan 5.5 Pacific/Asia ex-Japan -4.9

Large-cap Growth 4.2 Diversified Emerging Mkts. -3.5

Mid-cap Growth 2.9 Real Estate -3.1

Leaders Laggards

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

Technology 58.2 Latin America -39.2

Communications 54.1 Natural Resources -26.0

Large-cap Growth 37.5 Diversified Emerging Mkts. -24.9

Large-cap Blend 21.1 Real Estate -16.8

Mid-cap Growth 20.1 Precious Metals -15.7

All data are as of market close Wednesday, Feb. 3, 1999, 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 Feb. 2. For a more detailed explanation, write to us or E-mail

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

Return to top