Investing - Brief Article

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, June, 2000

* INTERNET UPDATE: The 25 Internet stocks and mutual funds highlighted in our April cover story ("Web Stocks: The New Rules") plunged 39%, on average, between Nasdaq's high-water mark on March 10 and April 14. The Goldman Sachs Internet index fell 46%. For insight into tech stocks now. * BIGGEST OF THEM ALL: Old-economy General Electric eclipsed Microsoft and Cisco Systems as the world's biggest company, as measured by stock-market value. * JANUS ASCENDING: The hot Denver fund company got 50% of all new money (net of redemptions) invested in mutual funds in January (and 30% in February), dwarfing even Fidelity and Vanguard. * LET'S TALK: Montgomery is starting a series of concentrated portfolios (20 to 30 stocks per fund max), whose managers will update investors weekly via the Web about buys, sells, strategies. * WAGES OF SIN: MicroStrategy, a hugely popular Internet stock, was forced to restate its financial results for 1997, 1998, 1999. Outcome: Its stock fell from $333 in March to a mere $31 in April. * WILD `N' WOOLLY: Leuthold Group reports that on 73% of trading days this year, Nasdaq stocks went up or down more than 1%--the highest frequency in its 29-year history. Stocks are more volatile than ever. * FEE-FREE: Vanguard has ended transaction fees on five of its index funds. * BYE-BYE: We reported in May on the 836% one-year total return (as of March 13) of PBHG New Opportunities fund. A month later, the fund's one-year return had shrunk to 246%--and its 27-year-old manager quit after a meteoric 13-month career in money management.

JUNE CHECKLIST

[] CHEER UP: Some stocks are on their knees, but June is historically the best month in a presidential election year.

[] STAND BACK: Insiders will be free to sell shares of VA Linux Systems (June 6) and Freemarkets (June 7), as lockups following their IPOs end.

[] KNOW YOUR FUNDS: Morningstar's investment conference June 28-30 brings in the luminaries of the fund world. Your cost: $495 and airfare to Chicago.

[] ADD SHARES: Alcoa, Chase Manhattan and Motorola will split their shares.

[] GET READY: The Federal Reserve could raise short-term rates yet again June 27-28.