The Dow Jones Industrial Average was suddenly...
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was suddenly hit last Friday by waves of selling caused by computerized futures trading, leading to a 44.55-point loss on the day, adding up to a 78.71-point loss for the week, said Irving Katz, director of research at Thomas Green/San Diego Securities.
Although this seemed to be a direct result of the computerized trading, individual investors on Monday showed little enthusiasm on either the buy or sell side as the Dow Jones index registered an additional loss of 12.13 points on low volume .
San Diego stocks as usual were not much affected by any of the above. The highlight of the week was the earnings announcement by Price Co., which caused a flurry of buying and a $2 gain by Price shares Monday.
Analysts who had been advising their clients to sell the stock will now have to reconsider after the company reported a 12% earnings increase for its third quarter. The report also said that Price would be opening 13 more Price Clubs in the United States and Canada through the end of 1990. Of the 11 new U.S. stores to be added to the 49 now operating, five will be on the West Coast, and six will be on the East Coast.
“Good news will result from the addition of stores,” Katz said. “They are going full steam ahead on opening a lot of stores, which they hadn’t done before.”
Three new highs were made by local stocks the past week. The largest gainer was Xscribe, which hit a new high for the year of $.75. Xscribe’s low for the year is $.18. Xscribe recently reported a reduced net loss for the year of $.30 per share, versus a loss of $2.14 over the comparable period last year.
Other new highs were recorded by International Totalizator Systems at $6.44 a share and MarrowTech at $4.
New lows for 1990 included two companies that held recent initial public stock offerings. Gensia Pharmaceuticals, which went public at $11 a share June 5, reached a new low of $9. Immune Response, which went public May 1 at $7, fell to a new low of $5.625.
Other new lows included Medi-Mail at $1. HomeFed, which is still suffering from the market’s adverse reaction to its increase in nonperforming assets during May, hit a new low of $21.50. And Intermark, which is still waiting to consummate its merger with Triton Group Ltd., hit a new low of $6.125.
