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Hang Seng hangs over U.S.
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October 27, 1997: 8:21 a.m. ET
The continued struggles of Hong Kong markets loom in U.S. trading future
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Asian market turmoil, particularly another severe drop in Hong Kong, is likely to continue to create reverberations throughout U.S. markets on Monday.
After making strong gains at the end of last week, the stock market in Hong Kong gave back most of them on Monday, with the benchmark Hang Seng index dropping almost 6 percent. Japan's blue chip 225-share Nikkei lost almost 2 percent.
S&P futures trading on the Globex system indicated a lower open for the Dow, registering a 13.80 point drop to 930.25 in Monday trading.
The bond market, however, was rallying, with the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond gaining 14/32 to 101-26/32 for a yield of 6.24 percent.
The increasing role of multinationals in world business is part of the cause for the overspill of market tensions, said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany.
"These crises tend to sort of ricochet from country to country over time and the transmission mechanism is that we've got a lot of multinational corporations whose sales and earnings are going to be affected," he said.
European markets were feeling the sting from Asia on Monday morning with Frankfurt's DAX index dropping 171.82 to 3879.17. London's FTSE 100 followed it down, losing 98.90 to 4871.30.
Bob McKee, economist at Independent Strategy said that the market falls may actually be a form of medicine being applied by investors.
"There's general nervousness that this is a crisis that could start to spread globally and, generally, markets are overvalued in my opinion, and so markets are beginning to cut back accordingly," explained McKee.
Another major factor in the U.S. investment picture could be news out of several technology companies.
Apple Computer's interim CEO Steve Jobs, is expected to decide on Monday whether or not he wants to continue in his capacity on a permanent basis.
Jobs, a co-founder of the computer company, has been on vacation and before embarking on his trip, he said he would "think about" taking on the position indefinitely.
Apple stock (AAPL) lost 1-3/16 to 16-9/16 in a general tech sell-off on the markets Friday.
Semiconductor leader Intel announced Monday that it planned to cut prices for its Pentium processors by an average 20 percent. Intel shares (INTC) dropped 1-7/8 to 80 on the Nasdaq Friday.
Silicon Graphics is expected on Monday to announce, along with its fourth quarter earnings, a restructuring which could mean layoffs.
The earnings report is expected after markets close on Monday. Silicon Graphics issued a warning earlier saying it would lose about 20 cents per share for the quarter, in sharp contrast with estimates of gains of 21 cents per share.
Its stock (SGI) rose 1-7/16 per share on Friday.
-- by staff writer Randy Schultz
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