There doesn’t seem to be any quick...
There doesn’t seem to be any quick fix to the stock market, as share prices continue to tumble even though trading has been restricted to four hours daily for the remainder of the week, according to Irving Katz, director of market research for San Diego Securities.
The Dow Jones average was down another 8% on Monday--adding to the 28% drop from its all-time high in August, Katz said.
Over-the-counter stocks fell even more as buyers disappeared and dealers offered little support to the thinly capitalized stocks. Instead, buyers and dealers stepped back and watched some stocks plummet as much as 25%.
For a generation of investors who have not experienced a bear market, there was instant learning as their perceptions of the world and their future changed dramatically, Katz said.
San Diego stocks that are widely held by institutions continued to fall as the selling spread to encompass even those that previously had remained unscathed, according to Katz. Despite the announcement of stock buybacks by more than 300 companies, including Beeba’s Creations and Rohr Industries, stocks continued to recede, Katz said. Beeba’s was down 2 1/2 to 9 and Rohr was down 1 to 18 3/4, and down from 33 just two weeks ago.
Henley Group, another company that had threatened to buy stock back in recent weeks, was rumored last week to be a heavy buyer of Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corp. Henley dropped 5 to 18 3/8 and announced earnings of $39 million, which included a one-time gain of $75 million on their sale of a minority interest in Wheelabrator Technologies. Henley actually had a $36-million operating loss to add to its previous string of quarterly losses, Katz said.
Saving & loans continued to drop despite reporting excellent earnings. Imperial Corp. of America was down 2 7/8. Great American First Savings Bank and Home Federal Savings & Loan each were down 1 3/8.
With margin calls proliferating and the government dragging its feet in promising some action, traders took immediate action and sold as analysts talked of a Dow Jones Industrial average in the 1,300 to 1,500 range. Monday’s close was at 1,793, leaving some margin for selling, Katz said.
Defense-related issues were in their own bear market with Cubic down 2 7/8, Titan Corp., down 1, and Maxwell Laboratories, down 3 3/4.
Major losers for the week were PS Group, minus 4; Intermark, down 3 3/8, despite the announcement of a 14.47% stake taken by a group including Industrial Equity Group, a New Zealand company.
On a positive note, San Diego Gas & Electric was up 1 1/2 to 29 7/8 for the week, where it offered a safe 8.4% return with promise of increasing annual dividends.
