Wednesday, March 17, 1999
Brokers cheered, then went back to work
BY URSULA MILLER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
If you blinked you might have missed the Dow Jones Industrial Average making history Tuesday.
The blue chip index of 30 of America's largest companies crossed the 10,000 mark, peaking at 10,001.78 before 10 a.m. The index spent most of the rest of the day down, closing at 9930.47.
“Everyone started counting it out, 9998, 9999, 10,000,” said Glen Trematore, manager of Bright Trading's office in Blue Ash. “Then the market reversed so fast, we didn't have the chance to enjoy it.”
Bill Friedlander, chairman of Bartlett & Co., said he missed the whole thing.
“It was down when I went into a meeting,” he said. “I came out and it was down. The only reason I knew it went through 10,000 is because of you.”
Suanne Luhn, a portfolio manager at Bahl & Gaynor, said there was no reaction in her office downtown. “It was ho-hum,” she said.
The excitement on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, meanwhile, was palpable, though fleeting.
In the minutes leading up to the Dow's crossing of the 10,000 mark at 9:50 a.m. New York time, a man with a kazoo on the floor entertained traders with his version of the Yankee rally theme. When the Dow passed the five-figure milestone, market makers and floor brokers at the NYSE looked up at the board, cheered, shook hands, smiled and went back to work.
Mr. Trematore said inves tor reaction won't be “ho-hum” once the Dow stays above 10,000.
“Once they (1,000-point milestones) hold, the rally is normally pretty significant. What made it ho-hum is we've been attacking this number for two weeks.”
Jim Berghausen, chief investment officer at Fifth Third Bank said he hasn't been surprised by the stock market's strength because the economy remains robust, corporate profits are growing and inflation is benign. But the speed of the advance has been a little surprising, he said.
“We expected it to go through 10,000 this year. Did I think it would happen in mid-March? No. But the fundamentals are very strong,” Mr. Berghausen said. “There is room for this market to continue to advance.
The market's advance, though, remains dominated by the biggest U.S. corporations — the blue chips. The Russell 2000, a benchmark for small-cap stocks, remains mired in negative territory. It lost 1.67 points to close at 399.17 for the day and is down 5.4 percent for the year.
High-tech stocks, including Internet issues, are hot as well.
“There's nothing wrong with that,” said Ralph Acampora, the bullish technical analyst at Prudential Securities, adding that he wouldn't be surprised by or worried about a 5 percent pullback of the Dow.
High-tech is a real industry, he said.
“They're not making hoola-hoops,” Mr. Acampora quipped during a conference call with reporters.
Bloomberg New contributed to this report.
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