Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 2, 1991 TAG: 9102020090
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
We're making a number of changes in our business report, changes we hope will better organize the financial information we carry and make it easier to read.
Stock market listings are being revamped so we can make space for more business news and at the same time better serve most of Western Virginia's investors.
The type size for all our daily stock quotes will be increased 18 percent, thus making them more readable.
Our Saturday listing of the New York Stock Exchange will include 1,500 of the most active securities. On weekdays, the morning edition will list 1,000 of the most active New York Stock Exchange securities.
These lists, while shorter than in the past, represent the most actively traded stocks with the broadest appeal to the investing public. The list will seldom include preferred stocks and other narrow-interest issues.
In response to changing patterns of stock trading, we're doubling the number of stock listings from the NASDAQ over-the-counter market. For the same reason, we are reducing the number of American Stock Exchange quotes.
As with the New York Stock Exchange list, these lists will include each day's most actively traded stocks plus daily quotes of regional-interest stocks.
For the first time we're able to customize our lists to capture only the day's most active stocks and at the same time include every day all stocks of regional interest.
In each of those three exchanges, we'll always include quotes of several dozen companies whose stock we know is held by some of our readers. Those will include Norfolk Southern, American Electric Power, the major Virginia banks, General Electric and DuPont. You'll see those companies every day, even if a particular stock wouldn't have made the cut on the basis of trading volume alone. Many of those stocks will be broken out into a regional listing for easy reading.
We're able to make all of these changes because of a new Associated Press service, called SelectStocks I. It utilizes computer processors installed in Roanoke and programmed to receive information from AP's SelectStocks Support Center in New York.
But what if you hold a stock that hasn't been traded much lately? You probably won't see that stock listed in our pages. Let us know of such stocks; we'll add them if they have a substantial following among our readers. If we can't list one of your stocks, we'll tell you why.
If you have a Touch-tone phone, the quote will still be available to you from the pay-per-call service we introduced last summer. Called the Business Hotline, it's a 900-number service that offers hourly business news updates and stock quotes updated 18 times a day on more than 9,000 publicly traded companies. The number to call is 1-900-990-9900; our ID number (access code) is 145. Please see the accompanying graphic for detailed instructions. The cost is 95 cents per minute and the charges will appear on your telephone bill. Your phone must have Touch-tone dialing and you must know your stock's ticker symbol. If you don't know the ticker symbol, call us for help. Ask for Jim Ellison or John Levin on the business news desk, at 981-3341 on weekdays.
Many readers also have asked for consistent coverage of foreign exchange rates, Treasury bill interest rates, gold and silver prices and farm markets. Changes we're making to the stock market report also allows us to present this information in the same place each day.
Only the largest of the mutual funds will be reported on weekdays. On Saturdays, however, we are carrying a summary of all but the smallest funds. We will also publish best-and-worst rankings of mutual funds. As with our stock listings, if we're leaving out a fund with a large following in our area, we can include it in the list.
Our money-market listings will be limited to the top performers, which will continue to be carried on Fridays.
We've made these changes after talking with a number of readers and stockbrokers. We realize, however, that these changes may not meet the needs of every reader. If you have suggestions about how we can do a better job, write us or call. On nights and weekends, please call our comment line at 981-3173 and leave your message.
by CNB