Word: investors
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...General Motors, Monsanto, AlliedSignal and Ameritech swore off soft money in 1997 and have largely stuck to their decision. Wall Street buyout pioneer Jerome Kohlberg has formed an advocacy group that backs candidates who favor campaign-finance reform, and has assembled a cadre of retired corporate chieftains, plus mega-investor Warren Buffett, in support of the effort. "This is the first time a significant number of people in the business community have said enough is enough," says Charles Kolb, president of the Committee for Economic Development...
Moved PermanentlyMoved PermanentlyFortune Investor Data"This is the big break the markets have been waiting for after a week of bad news," says TIME senior economics reporter Bernard Baumohl. "The pace of new job creation for August is less than what economists had forecast, and the pressure on wages has been slight." That spells low inflation, notes Baumohl, and it means that worries about another Fed rate hike this year have been, if not entirely put to rest, at least sent upstairs for a nice long nap. Burgers? Hey, why not break out the steaks...
Money managers call it the doomsday scenario, forseeing an event that could wipe out investor portfolios and wreak havoc on the stock market. The danger stems not from new financial woes erupting abroad but from something happening here. It is the explosive growth in margin debt--loans Americans take out to buy stocks. Margin debt has shot up to $180 billion at midyear, a 25% increase in just six months and by far the most ever recorded. It now accounts for 1.2% of the stock market's total capitalization...
When buying on margin, an investor who wants, say, $5,000 of AOL shares need put up only 50% of his own money. The rest ($2,500) is borrowed from a broker. It's a tantalizing deal. If AOL's stock moves up, you make twice as much profit as if you had paid all cash. If the stock dives, though, that leverage works in reverse. But few investors seem to focus on the downside...
What to do? Investors already in hock must prepare a game plan on how they'll raise cash if they face a margin call, says Lloyd Woelfle of American Express Financial Advisers. If you're a novice investor tempted to buy on margin, using leverage is O.K., but you may need to set aside more money than you think to play this game. If you buy on margin, better to stick to high-quality equities, which have a lower downside risk. Borrowing to buy volatile Internet stocks is walking the high wire. And right now that wire is really, really...