SOLID DEBUT; TECHS DRAG DOWN LOCAL INDEX : MOVERS & SHAKERS.Byline: Deborah Adamson Daily News Staff Writer The Daily News/Bloomberg Index ended 1997 with a healthy 21.3 percent gain among its 50 member companies. The index ran neck and neck with the Nasdaq Composite Index Nasdaq Composite Index An index that indicates price movements of securities in the over-the-counter market. It includes all domestic common stocks in the Nasdaq System (approximately 5,000 stocks) and is weighted according to the market value of each listed , which rang in the new year with a 21.64 percent increase, and shot ahead of the Russell 2000 index Russell 2000 Index An index measuring the performance of the 2,000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000 Index, which is made up of 3,000 of the biggest U.S. stocks. The Russell 2000 serves as a benchmark for small-cap stocks in the United States. of small companies, which rose 20.52 percent for the year. But it was eclipsed by the Dow Jones industrial average Dow Jones Industrial Average The best known U.S. index of stocks. A price-weighted average of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks, primarily industrials including stocks that trade on the New York Stock Exchange. and the Standard & Poor's 500, the two largest and most popular indexes. The Dow ended 1997 up 22.64 percent, an unprecedented third year in a row with annual gains over 20 percent. The S&P 500 came in with a stellar 31 percent gain. Launched in September, the Daily News index tracks the stock performances of 50 of the largest publicly traded companies publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. headquartered in the San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. , Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, , Simi and Conejo valleys The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both Southeastern Ventura County and Northwest Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It was discovered in 1542 by Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, and eventually became part of the Rancho El Conejo land grant by . The index was backdated to Dec. 31, 1996, with a value of 100. The largest firm in the index is Walt Disney Noun 1. Walt Disney - United States film maker who pioneered animated cartoons and created such characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck; founded Disneyland (1901-1966) Disney, Walter Elias Disney Co. in Burbank. The smallest is another entertainment firm, Brilliant Digital of Woodland Hills. However, technology firms have the largest representation, with 11 out of 50 companies. For most of the year, the Daily News index moved above or below one or more of the indexes. But from August to October, it surged above the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite The Nasdaq Composite is a stock market index of all of the common stocks and similar securities (e.g. ADRs, tracking stocks, limited partnership interests) listed on the NASDAQ stock market, meaning that it has over 3,000 components. It is highly followed in the U.S. , helped by rising investor interest in mid- to small-cap equities, especially in technology. It hit a high of 133 on Oct. 8, a 45.5 percent gain from its yearly low of 91.38 on April 28. But the index lost steam in the last quarter of the year, in the aftermath of the Oct. 27 market crash. The one-day, 554-point drop in the Dow followed currency devaluations Currency devaluation A deliberate downward adjustment in the official exchange rates established, or pegged, by a government against a specified standard, such as another currency or gold. and company failures in Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, region of Asia (1990 est. pop. 442,500,000), c.1,740,000 sq mi (4,506,600 sq km), bounded roughly by the Indian subcontinent on the west, China on the north, and the Pacific Ocean on the east. . While the U.S. markets as a whole shook off the tremors quickly, the Asian factor specifically hurt the technology sector of American companies. Regardless of where a company's sales occurred in Asia, tech stocks plunged by association. ``For the year as a whole, technology stocks have done pretty well,'' said Al Kugel ku·gel n. A baked pudding of noodles or potatoes, eggs, and seasonings, traditionally eaten by Jews on the Sabbath. [Yiddish kugel, ball (from its puffed-up shape), from Middle High German. , senior investment strategist strat·e·gist n. One who is skilled in strategy. Noun 1. strategist - an expert in strategy (especially in warfare) strategian market strategist - someone skilled in planning marketing campaigns at Stein Roe Mutual Funds in Chicago. ``By midyear mid·year n. 1. The middle of the calendar or academic year. 2. a. An examination given in the middle of a school year. b. midyears A series of such examinations. , they were outstanding, just sensational sen·sa·tion·al adj. 1. Of or relating to sensation. 2. Arousing or intended to arouse strong curiosity, interest, or reaction, especially by exaggerated or lurid details: . But a lot of stocks have gone down since then, even the biggest companies such as Intel. Tech stocks had a significant sell-off until a few days ago.'' High valuations, especially in tech firms, also caused investor sales. ``They sold because they made a nice profit,'' said Robert Mills, a senior vice president at Sutro & Co., an investment banking and management firm in Woodland Hills. And it was that weakness in technology that brought down the Daily News Index in the last months of 1997. Among the index's top 10 stock performers, only three were technology firms. Of the 10 worst-performing stocks in the index, five were tech companies. Topping the list as best stock price performer is Unilab, a clinical testing services firm in Tarzana. Its stock closed at 1-7/8, up 329 percent for the year. Tekelec, a Calabasas-based maker of network switches, came in second with a 287 percent gain. Its stock price closed at 30-1/2 on Wednesday. Taking third was Cherokee Inc., a licensing firm in Van Nuys whose stock shot up 158 percent to end at 15-1/2 for 1997. The bottom of the index was anchored by Trikon Technologies in Chatsworth, a maker of computer chip equipment, whose stock price dropped by 91 percent to 1 1/32. Coming in second worst was ACT Networks in Camarillo, with an 80 percent plunge to 7 5/16. Third was Xircom Inc., dipping 54 percent to 10 1/16. Name/Headqtrs. Dec. 31, 1996 price Dec. 31, 1997 price Percent chg. Unilab Corp./Tarzana 7/16 1 7/8 328.57 Tekelec/Calabasas 7 7/8 30 1/2 287.30 Cherokee/Van Nuys 6 15 1/2 158.33 T-HQ Inc./Calabasas 9 3/8 23 145.33 Semtech/Newbury Park 17 1/8 39 1/8 128.47 Highland Bancorp/Burbank 17 32 3/4 92.65 On Assignment/Calabasas 14 3/4 26 1/2 79.66 Newhall Land/Valencia 16 7/8 30 77.78 Cheesecake Factory/Calabasas 18 1/8 30 1/2 68.28 Special Devices/Newhall 17 3/4 29 1/4 64.79 Golden State Bancorp/Glendale 23 1/4 37 7/16 61.02 Haskel/Burbank 7 5/8 11 15/16 56.56 20th Century/Woodland Hills 16 7/8 26 54.07 Eltron/Simi Valley 20 1/8 30 1/4 50.31 Countrywide coun·try·wide adv. & adj. Throughout a whole country; nationwide: launched a fundraising campaign countrywide; a countrywide search. Adj. 1. Credit/Calabasas 28 5/8 42 7/8 49.78 Electro E`lec´tro n. 1. An electrotype. Rent/Van Nuys 24 7/8 35 3/4 43.72 Walt Disney/Burbank 69 3/4 99 41.94 Pinkerton's/Encino 16 3/4 23 1/2 40.30 IHOP/Glendale 23 5/8 32 1/2 37.57 Dole/Westlake Village 33 7/8 45 3/4 35.06 Diodes/Westlake Village 7 1/4 9 3/4 34.48 PacificAmerica/Woodland Hills 14 1/2 18 1/4 25.86 Brilliant Digital/Woodland Hills 3 3/4 4 11/16 25 Vitesse Semiconductor/Camarillo 30 21/64 37 3/4 24.45 Panavision/Woodland Hills 20 3/4 25 13/16 24.40 Wellpoint/Woodland Hills 34 3/8 42 1/4 22.91 Litton/Woodland Hills 47 5/8 57 1/2 20.73 Syncor/Woodland Hills 13 3/8 16 1/8 20.56 Minimed/Sylmar 32 1/4 38 7/8 20.54 Superior Industries/Van Nuys 23 1/8 26 13/16 15.95 Align-Rite/Burbank 11 12 3/4 15.91 Superior National/Calabasas 12 3/4 14 1/2 13.73 Unico American/Woodland Hills 10 7/8 12 1/4 12.64 MRV MRV minute respiratory volume. Communications/Chatsworth 21 3/4 23 7/8 9.77 Four Media/Burbank 10 1/8x 9 N/A (Four Media started trading Feb. 7) Guitar Center/Agoura Hills 18xx 23 N/A (Guitar Center started trading March 14) Summit Care/Burbank 16 3/8 16 3/8 0 Amgen/Thousand Oaks 54 3/8 54 1/8 -0.46 Public Storage/Glendale 31 29 3/8 -5.24 Zenith zenith, in astronomy, the point in the sky directly overhead; more precisely, it is the point at which the celestial sphere is intersected by an upward extension of a plumb line from the observer's location. National/Woodland Hills 27 3/8 25 3/4 -5.94 Foundation Health/Woodland Hills 24 3/4 22 1/4 -10.10 Whittaker/Simi Valley 12 5/8 11 -12.87 Chad/Chatsworth 14 1/8 8 7/8 -37.17 Xylan/Calabasas 28 1/4 15 1/8 -46.46 Jerry's Famous Deli/Studio City 4 5/8 2 5/16 -50 3D Systems/Valencia 12 3/4 6 3/16 -51.47 Cohr/Chatsworth 27 12 3/4 -52.78 Xircom/Thousand Oaks 21 3/4 10 1/16 -53.74 ACT Networks/Camarillo 36 1/2 7 5/16 -79.97 Trikon/Chatsworth 11 3/4 1 1/32 -91.22 CAPTION(S): 3 charts CHART: (1) Daily News/Bloomberg index debuts (2) By comparison (3) Movers & shakers Shakers, popular name for members of the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, also called the Millennial Church. Members of the movement, who received their name from the trembling produced by religious emotion, were also known as Alethians. (see text) |
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