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Financial News for the Digital Economy - DFIN.COM
San Diego, CA
March 17, 1999

5 Minute Weekly NewsBreak (Synopses of important and timely
financial/Internet/economic  stories) The purpose is to easily allow the
subscriber to keep staff current on financial and digital affairs.

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Week of March 7, 1999

The Stock Market Parlor Game or Freedom to Fail is a self-fulfilling
prophecy? As we rapidly approach Dow 10,000 it reminds me of the mid 1970's
when Silver was being cornered by the Hunt brothers and gold was at $1000
per ounce.  At that time I saw a news story in Los Angeles in which a
homeless "Bag Lady" was buy in Silver coins.  The feeling is the same today.
There are indications that everybody feels obligated to invest in the stock
market, especially in mutual funds.  Human nature is slow to change and this
is one reason for excesses.   I recently saw an advertisement for a discount
brokerage in which a group of young mothers gathered around a computer with
their children.  One mother was trading stocks and showing friends how easy
and inexpensive it was.  She of course made a nice profit in her trade.
Another example of newcomers to the market is the growth in Black Household
investment in the US Stock Market.  The chart below shows a growth of more
than 300% in the period between 1995 - 1997.

Business Week Online March 22 Issue
TABLE: Black Household Investment
1997 $2,967
1996 2,324
1995 960
DATA: TARGET MARKET NEWS, CENSUS BUREAU

The masses cannot be right forever. We expect the DOW to break 10,000 but
what is next? More on this next week.

In other news, the French government continues to support other nations
Internet business.  Business Week reported that In late February a French
Internet server company with 40,000 clients was fined about $70,000 for
hosting a company that posted a nude photograph of a famous French model,
Estelle Hallyday.  The company (server) had nothing to do with the posting
and had to close business.  In the USA Vice President Gore is accepting
credit for creating the Internet and 24-hour trading is close to
implementation.  The brokerage industry has some exciting changes in the
works. MORE  http://www.dfin.com/dfwu.htm

Did Gore father the Internet? His claim raises issue of Net�s paternity �
and maternity, By Miguel Llanos, MSNBC,  The Associated Press contributed,
March 12 -    Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn may take exception to this.   Lets give
credit where credit is due.
MORE  http://www.dfin.com/dfwu.htm

Coming Soon: round-the-clock Trading, For now, Net investors can't trade
unless the exchanges are open for business. But stock up on NoDoz:
Round-the-clock trading is coming soon,  By Megan Barnett IDG Net -  It
can't come fast enough.
MORE  http://www.dfin.com/dfwu.htm

GM Launches Web Site To Sell Autos, 03/10/99 DETROIT (AP) - This is an
important event in the e-tail world. What mark-up will dealers have on
direct purchases?
MORE  http://www.dfin.com/dfwu.htm

Gates to unveil China Internet TV project, SHENZHEN, China, March 8
(Reuters) -  Forget about the monopolist actions in the USA courts,
Microsoft is poised to corner the Chinese Internet market.  MS will be using
TV's not computers. In addition to the TV's, the futuristic JV plan is
probably a long term dream of Bill Gates, pay a small fee every time you use
a MS program.
MORE  http://www.dfin.com/dfwu.htm

It's @786. Do you know where your computer is? March 6, 1999, Mercury News
and The New York Times - The time is right for a world without time zones.
We can all function on GMT or as proposed by the watchmaker "Swatch" divide
the day into 1,000 "swatch beats".
MORE  http://www.dfin.com/dfwu.htm

BNP launches bid for Paribas, Societe Generale, Unexpected offer is worth an
estimated $37 billion, By Thomas Kamm, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL,  PARIS -
The merger that would form the worlds largest bank.
"Banque Nationale de Paris, seeking to thwart the planned $17 billion merger
between rival French banks Societe Generale and Paribas, launched an
unexpected bid late Tuesday night for both banks valued at an estimated $37
billion."
MORE  http://www.dfin.com/dfwu.htm

Not smart enough, Smart cards will have to improve to earn a place in your
wallet, consumer experts say, March 8, 1999,   BY AMBER VEVERKA, Mercury
News and Knight Ridder News Service -  It is believed that a "Killer App" is
the only way smart cards will be adopted by the masses.   Some believe that
smart cards will be used for computer security and Internet purchases.  Once
smart card technology is incorporated in PC's we expect the adoption to be
rapid.  Why? because people will be able to download cash onto the card from
their PC's. "By By" Bank office.
Net Rumors Fry Stock Guru, Wired News Report, March 9, 1999, Reuters
contributed to this report -   "Here's a switch: A company is claiming that
the Internet gives users too much privacy."
MORE http://www.dfin.com/dfwu.htm

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Contact
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