
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 27, 1991                   TAG: 9102270531
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short

SECURITIES INDUSTRY LOSES $500 MILLION

Wall Street lost as much as $500 million in 1990, the worst annual performance by the securities industry in history, according to a preliminary estimate by the industry's trade association.

The estimate, made by the Securities Industry Association in a report sent to the heads of securities firms, is the starkest evidence to date of the economic tumult that has gripped Wall Street. A copy of the report, dated February 1991, was obtained by The New York Times.

The estimate covers a variety of firms, from retail brokerages to investment banking houses to firms that make markets in stocks. It did not break out financial results for individual firms.

Although some Wall Street firms have reported their earnings for the fourth quarter and all of last year, many others are privately held and do not disclose their financial results.

"It's clear that 1990's bottom line was the worst for our industry ever," the report said. "The 1990 loss, at $500 million, will easily set a new low."

The loss compares with industrywide income of $1.84 billion in 1989, a year that was itself considered an unhealthy one for the industry.

The report said 1990 was only the second year that Wall Street firms had collectively lost money "since reliable data became available."

The previous loss, in 1973, was $72 million before taxes, according to the association's figures.

Executives at the association cautioned that the estimate was not final, and that the official numbers might not be quite as bad as the preliminary estimate. But industry analysts said the figures sounded about right.

by CNB