May 19, 2000
May 19, 2000 |
High: 107 1/2 Low: 47 9/16 |
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Equity
"Lehman Says WorldCom Can Save Deal" Reuters "Abreast Of The Market: Tech Bellwethers Oracle, Adobe, Sun Fall On Concern Over Rates" Wall Street Journal "WorldCom, Sprint Face Tough Choices" CBS.Marketwatch.com "Sprint, WorldCom Shares Drop On Uncertainty Over Merger OK" BridgeNews "WorldCom Optimistic, But DOJ Staff Dislikes Deal" Reuters "WorldCom-Sprint Challenge Recommended By DOJ Staff" Bloomberg Kim Wallace, Lehman Brothers chief political analyst, believes that WorldCom and Sprint Corp. can save their planned merger by identifying for regulators potential buyers of the assets they may need to shed in order to gain regulatory approval, Reuters reported. Regulators fear that the deal will crimp competition in the long-distance market and, to a lesser extent, imperil the so-called Internet backbone, the network over which information on the Web travels. The acquisition would combine the No.#2 and No.#3 U.S. long-distance carriers and let WorldCom control most of the network that manages Internet traffic. Wallace commented: "We believe that if the company identifies qualified buyers of Sprint's long distance residential and Internet backbone assets, the department likely would decide to not challenge the proposed combination." At a minimum, the tough Justice Department stance could mean delays. The companies have said they expect to close the acquisition by the end of the year. "Lehman Brothers Analyst To Interview On RadioWallStreet.com" Business Wire Lehman Brothers' chief political analyst, Kim Wallace, discussed the pending Sprint Corporation and WorldCom Inc. merger and the impact of antitrust legislation on the telecom sector on RadioWallStreet.com. The event broadcast May 18 at 6:00 PM. Investors can access this broadcast at http://www.radiowallstreet.com. If you are viewing this release after the day of the event log on to http://www.radiowallstreet.com/ NASApp/RWS/EventPage?ID=21147. Investment Banking "Yahoo! Seeks A Trinity To Triumph: The Upside And Downside Of Size" TheStreet.com According to TheStreet.com, James J. Cramer explained in one of his many columns how a smaller fund can maneuver in ways that the big boys, from the aforementioned hedge funds to Fidelity and Putnam, cannot. This subject has everything to do with macro market dynamics and investor psychology and nothing to do with individual-company fundamentals. Stuart Francis, head of technology investment banking for Lehman Brothers, explained, "A smaller investor has much more flexibility to migrate the way the market migrates. They don't have to worry that their movements will move markets." |
Fixed Income
"American Express Sold $200 Mln 1-Yr Nts 1Mo L-3 Bps" BridgeNews American Express Centurion Bank sold $200 million of one-year floating-rate bank notes via Lehman Brothers, BridgeNews reported. The non-callable notes were priced at par with a coupon of one-month LIBOR minus three basis points. "Lehman $250 Mln 13-Mos Sold At Fed Funds+28BP" BridgeNews BridgeNews reported that Lehman Brothers sold $250 million of 13-month floating-rate medium-term notes. The non-callable notes mature June 18 and were priced at par with a coupon of 28 basis points over the federal funds rate. Markets "Tech Stocks After The Fall" Kiplinger's In a feature interview with Kiplinger's, the personal investing magazine, Lehman Brothers chief investment strategist, Jeff Applegate, stated that there's lots of life left in new-economy stocks. His enthusiasm for the sector prompted his creation of Lehman's "virtual economy portfolio," 34 stocks that he believes constitute the best of the wired and wireless world. Applegate explained that he wanted a better way to measure the robust growth of the virtual economy but in a way that he hoped was less risky than just replicating an index. The portfolio is therefore structured to emphasize Internet-infrastructure companies and de-emphasize the business-to-consumer e-commerce companies. Applegate told Kiplinger's that technology stocks have not run out of steam; instead they are the growth stocks of our era. Several things lead him to believe that the better tech and Internet stocks will roar back. He noted that because of technology, we are witnessing the most sustained deflation in capital-goods prices since we began collecting data. At the same time, the cost of labor is rising about 3.5 percent per year, making it extremely attractive for companies to substitute capital for labor, using technology. As those costs continue to deviate from one another, the difference will encourage even more purchases of capital goods, heavily weighted in technology. Applegate concluded that you have to choose between owning the companies that are announcing huge business-to-business initiatives on the Internet-Sears, General Motors, Chevron-and the companies that are running those business-to-business initiatives, such as Ariba, Commerce One and Oracle. He'd rather own the last three. |
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