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Show ' ) Fall Cools Fond Memories Stock-Mark- et lull akf Sribunf Business By Chet Currier Associated Press Writer NEW YORK The arrival of a new year has given Wall Streeters little time to savor their warm memories of 1985. To be sure, it was easy to get an exaggerated impression of the impact of the stock markets decline. After the last seller departed for the weekend, the market was still above its levels of just a few weeks before. In an abrupt turnabout this past week, the stock market tumbled from record highs, leaving the Dow Jones average of 30 industrials with its largest single-da- y a point loss ever 39.10-poidrop on Wednesday. terest rates was the governments report that the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since 1980. Analysts noted that that was hardly The proximate cause of the Hopes for a continuing rally and lower interest rates suffered a severe setback. Monday Morning : January 13, 1986 Section D Page 1 And those developments, in turn, cast some doubts on expectations that American savers and investors would enthusiastically pour their individual retirement account dollars into stock and bond investments before the annual tax deadline on April 15. I i t ! : ' , -- ' livery systems are currently Associated Press Laserphotc How Things Stack Up At Avon Bruce Thompson prepares Avon cataLYNCHBURG, Va. distribution center here. Ameriat Avons for logs mailing cans spent a record $50 billion in 1985 on merchandise from more than 30 billion catalogs distributed through the nation. Study of Computer Science Falls With College Frosh LOS ANGELES (UPI) - Thea sales com- puter industry, battered by slowdown and increased foreign competition, no longer is attracting the attention of incoming college freshmen, according to a new study. Conducted by researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles and the American Council of Education, the study, released Monday, said the proportion of college freshmen preparing for futures in computer science and programming has dropped by 50 percent in the past two years. Computers have become a generic tool. The mystique is getting out of computers, said Kenneth C. Green, associate director of the study. There is now a tool mentality regarding computers, he said. Reseachers blame part of the decline on the slumping computer industry, which, during its heyday, attracted hordes of incoming freshmtn to computer science and related majors. According to the study, which is based on questionnaires completed enacted just before Congress recessed for its Christmas vacation. The measure eliminates the corporations nearly $7 billion spending authority and gives it 120 days to finish work and close itc doors. For some people, its a letdown, Tom Corcoran, vice chairman of the Synfuels agency, said last week. But I think this corporation should have been viewed always as a tempo-rar- y he added. phenomenon, People . . . should have recognized this was a government program that would be in place for a while, but then would turn everything over to the marketplace. "All the president and Congress did, he added, was to accelerate the timetable that this corporation had accepted. The most recent revision of that timetable would have halted the agencys authority to award new contracts later this year. Those few extra months, Corcoran Brooks said bankers may give up customers to competitors if they do not place enough emphasis on technology If banks dont develop the systems, Brooks said, it will be done by other companies. non-ban- k But the overt step of a discount rate cut was never taken. What apparently happened, some observers now believe, was that Fed policymakers let the markets do the job for them, as traders scrambled to buy bonds and in the process pushed interest rates lower. have made plans to leave, including Corcoran, who will resign in Despite those complaints, class desired careers as computer programmers or analysts. In 1984, 6.1 percent of the incoming freshmen held the same aspirations. Similar declines were posted in the number of students majoring in computer science and data processing. Prof. Alexander W. Astin, director of the Higher Education Research Institute at the UCLA Graduate School of Education, said many of the students interviewed for the study were inclined to view (computers) as a tool for use in other fields, rather than as a career. Many students may be misinter- preting the recent, troubles in the computer industry, assuming that difficulties in the computer industry affect job opportunities for computer specialists, Astin said. He said most labor forecasts still call for a very strong job market for computer programmers and systems analysts. Pair Named to S&Ls Board of Directors R. Thayne Robson and Kenneth Y. Knight have been appointed to the board of directors of MountainWest Savings and Loan, announced president LeRoy Mecham. Mr. Robson is director of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research and professor of management for the graduate school of business and research professor of economics at the Univeristy of Utah. Mr. Knight is executive vice president of Little America Hotel Corp., Holdings Little America, California Little America Co., Sun Valley Co., Little America Refining Co. and Sin- clair Oil Corp. Mr. Robson, who holds a masters degree in economics, has attended economics seminars at Harvard University, is a member of the executive committee and board of trustees of the Greater Salt Lake Convention and Tourism Council, the National Council of Employment Policy and the Utah Governors Economic Advisory Committee. Mr. Knight, a graduate of the University of Utah with a masters of business administration from Stanford University, is affiliated with the board of governors of the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, the Salt Palace Board of directors, the S. L. Valley Visitors and Convention Bureau board of directors and several other boards. MountainWest Savings is the savings and loan institution in Utah with assets of more than $360 million. fourth-large- Foothill Financial Corporation has acquired by Main Street DETAILS, CALL OR WRITE: A. A. Perez, Real Estate Specialist, Seattle Field Office Real Estate & Bldgs. Dept., USPS P.O. Box 2000, Kent, WA 98032-020Telephone: 206395-135- 3 Foothill Thrift and Loan. Sr. 0 notice may be obtained at the Bountiful or North Salt Lake OFFERS TO SELL or LEASE PROPERTY will be considered during the period January 1, 1986, through January 30, 1986 Foothill Thrift and Loan has acquired American Equity Corporation. "The Professional'! Choice" Arctic Snowplows are Available Now For Your Pick Up or 4x4 CALL: Denton, Dan, Rick, Mark, Bob or Charlie H&K TRUCK EQUIPMENT 751 WEST 300 SOUTH Assets of Foothill Thrift and Loan SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH 84104 (801) 1 now total S42, 000, ()()(). Only Arctic Has All These Features: Undertiood Hydraulic Rolled Top Edge 4 Way Reversible Cutting Edge the agency nafrowly survived a 1984 attempt in Congress to take away its spending authority. In the end, the greatest weapon against the Synfuels corporation was the drive to cut government spending. With enactment in December of the law requiring a balanced budget, the White House turned against the agency. Lawmakers agreed it was expendable, especially since they calculated that eliminating its $7 billion in spending authority would constitute the largest single reduction in the budget. by 279,985 incoming college freshmen nationwide, only 4.4 percent of the SITE SIZE DESIRED IS APPROXIMATELY 140' x 175' (24,500 sq. ft.) or AN EXISTING BUILDING of 2,730 sq. ft. on a suitable site. PREFERRED AREA: Bounded on the north by 350 North Street, on the south by intersection of Orchard Drive and U S. Highway 89, on the east by city limits and Orchard Drive and on the west Formal advertisement Branch Post Offices. y. The agency had fought a series of battles in recent years to stay alive in the face of strong opposition from lawmakers and environmentalists. Created by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 to find new sources of fuel including oil shale, tar sands and coal mixtures the corporation was a frequent source of controversy. Besides complaints over the agen- -' cys environmental behavior, other critics aimed at the generous salaries paid to the corporation's top employees. Two past presidents of the Synfuels board quit over alleged ethics violations. UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE NEEDS LAND OR A BUILDING IN NORTH SALT LAKE, UTAH TES POST FOR ADDITIONAL said, would have enabled the corporation to sign contracts for a handful of new projects that he said would have rounded out its assortment of alternative fuels projects. But critics say neither the agency nor those projects will be missed. One of the most vocal opponents, the environmentalist group Friends of the Earth, fought the agency from its inception and said it never made sense economically or environmentally. Geoffrey Webb, director of the groups Washington office, questioned the technology used in many of the Synfuels programs and said the agency had ignored warnings of environmental problems likely to result from some projects. When the agency goes out of business April 18, the Treasury Department will take over the job of monitoring the agencys four contracts with the Parachute Creek oil shale project in Colorado, the Forest Hills heavy oil operation in Texas, the Cool Water coal gasification project in California and the Dow Syngas coal gasification project in Louisiana. Besides arranging the transfer of responsibilities, the agency has only a handful of other tasks to accomplish before its shutdown, including completion of reports on its activities. Some of its 135 employees already By Bruce Hammond so by 1990. 1990. The Fed was concerned about the sluggish pace of the economy, many analysts leasoned, and inflation didnt seem to be reviving. So the way seemed open for a further relaxation of credit policy to give the economy a boost. Duffy important considerations in choosing a bank and will become much more For instance, 53 percent of the consumers said home banking will be important in four years. Similarly, 59 percent of corporate treasurers said computer systems are important today, and 75 percent said such facilities will receive a higher priority by Talk of a reduction in the Feds discount rate, the interest rate it charges on loans to private financial institutions, had been widespread in the marketplace since November. temporary Phenomenon - - ' 243 96. WASHINGTON The Synthetic Fuels Corp., born in the wake of fuel shortages of the 1970s, is preparing for death in April as the first casualty of the governments new budget-cuttin- g law. The agency was ordered out of existence in legislation non-ban- 1 17-2- By Linda Werfelman United Press International DALLAS . in- Big Board volume averaged 146.43 million shares a day, up from 102 15 million the week before. Synthetic Fuels Is the 1st to Feel Blade Of Governments Budget - Cutting Ax By Robert Dodge Dallas Morning News Bankers dont know their customers as well as the officomcers of other financial-service- s panies do, and they risk losing market share if they do not do a better job of marketing, a survey of 150 of the 2 nations major banks shows. The survey shows that bankers sometimes fail to7 understand what both their retail and commercial cusfinancial-service- s k tomers want. And and merchandise companies retailers may take away customers in the future by doing a better job at marketing. Banks have to better understand their customers and have to respond with better marketing sophistica-- j ' tion, said Nigel A.L. Brooks, a part-- ' ner in charge of the banking industry ; group of Arthur Andersen & Co. in ! New York. If bankers do not do a ; , , better job, they will face significant ' competition from other financial-ser- vices companies and merchandise re-- 1 , . tailers, which often do a better job of r understanding their customers. The study was conducted by Arthur Andersen for the Association of Re-- ; serve City Bankers, whose member-- i ship is made up of executives from 150 major banks. Chief executives, of ! which 83 percent responded, were . asked questions about what they fore- see for the banking industry by the " ! beginning of the next decade. As the banking industry has become less regulated and new players I have entered financial services, many studies and surveys have been : '.tl conducted. But few have addressed ! the chief executives of the top tier of - the banking industry. ' I think this is representative of the industry in terms of the real power .base, Brooks said. This group rep- resents 65 to 70 percent of the industrys assets. Bankers were asked questions about the future structure of the industry, competition, regulation, technology, financing, products and prof-1- 2 stability. Two additional surveys were conducted for comparison. The two groups included 100 consumers with 1984 household incomes exceeding $35,000 and 100 chief financial offi-- . , cers of companies with annual sales ranging between $50 million and $100 ' . . million. Brooks said the surveys of retail bank customers . . and commercial ' ; often do not ; 'showed how bankers know what their customers want. For instance, he said most bankers believe that commercial customers place a high priority on receiving . prompt answers on loan requests. In fact, many banks advertise their quick response time. But the study showed that this is . not as important to commercial customers as having fast access to their account officer and uninterrupted ., ' ; , service. "Convenience comes up much more strongly with commercial cus- tomers than it did with bankers. Con- venience means better access to their , 4 account officers and uninterrupted service, not faster loan approvals, Brooks said. "The speed of loan ap-- 1 , proval is less important to customers than bankers perceive. r Brooks also indicated that bankers may not fully appreciate the impor- tance their customers place on tech-- j nological innovations. Bankers said they prefer to let other institutions incur the cost of developing technological delivery systems . for bank products such as home bank- ing and corporate treasurer systems. This allows some banks to avoid the costs of development and marketing. But the study showed that both consumer and commercial bank custom- ers believe certain technological de- of They also were more than a little bemused by the headline treatment a 3 percent decline in stock prices received in the news media, which had given less notice to the 20 percent rise that immediately preceded it. Its like working in Disney World sometimes," said Jay Donnaruma at C.L. King L Associates, an Albany, N.Y., brokerage firm. But to investors who had begun to believe their stocks were one-wa- y tickets to prosperity, the decline was no joking matter. The Dow Jones industrial average closed Friday at 1,513 53, down 35.67 points for the week. That marked the average's biggest weekly loss since it fell 35.78 points Sept. 1984. The New York Stock Exchange composite index dropped 2.68 to 118 82, and the American Stock Exchange market value index lost 3.77 to Program Termed a Lack of Understan fing Pointed Out in Survey i e many other economists, that the chances for a cut in the Federal Reserves discount rate had been greatly diminished). Banks Risk Loss of Customers ! about-fac- a sign of impending economic distress. Many Wall Streeters retained enough sense of humor to chuckle at the general rush to find whether it someone to blame for the selloff was Col. Moammar Khadafy of Libya, or Dr. Henry Kaufman of Salomon Brothers (the latter having publicly concluded, along with a good bond-mark- ' TT? Hie "Pe if I .1 eiiiii abou transaction has increased the eapilal of Foothill Thrift and Loan in cerss ol S i.SOO.OOO. st |
