ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 28, 1995 TAG: 9512280060
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
CORPORATE MERGERS reached a record, and Wall Street set a record for record highs - even though the record keepers were on a government furlough.
The business world set so many records in 1995 that it may have set yet another record - for the most records.
The list includes the greatest number of corporate mergers, the greatest number of record highs on Wall Street, and the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
It was difficult to confirm Wednesday if 1995 itself is one for the books - the record government furlough this week kept statisticians in Washington at home along with about 280,000 other federal workers.
Just looking at the sheer number of shattered rankings, though, would delight the most discriminating aficionado of numbers.
Wall Street set a record for records. The Dow Jones industrial average, the most widely followed barometer of stock-market activity, closed at new highs 69 times this year, the most for this century since 65 set in 1925, said Dow Jones & Co., the average's official record-keeper.
On the New York Stock Exchange, the world's largest stock market, trading volume of company shares averaged about 347 million a day, up from the previous record of 291 million last year.
Investors poured money into a record 7,560 mutual funds, which now hold a record $2.64 trillion in assets.
The investment surge helped bankroll a record pace of corporate mergers and acquisitions. U.S. companies announced 8,773 deals worth $466.34 billion, according to Securities Data Co. That beat the 7,568 deals valued at $347.5 billion set in 1994.
Corporate marriages also shattered records. Lockheed Corp. and Martin Marietta Corp. merged into the world's largest defense contractor, a $23 billion behemoth. The planned $10 billion combination of New York's Chemical and Chase banks will create the biggest U.S. financial institution, with $297 billion in assets, overtaking No. 1 Citicorp's $257 billion.
In a potentially grander U.S. bank marriage, NationsBank and BankAmerica Corp. were said to be discussing a merger that would land them at the top of the banking heap with $412 billion in assets.
The merger mania fueled a search for new corporate identities, spurring a record number of name changes by companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange. There were 60 name changes in 1995 vs. last year's record 54, according to Interbrand Schechter, a brand identity company.
Adding support to the financial boom was a surge in optimism by Americans, helped by surprisingly tame inflation and a drop in borrowing costs.
But some economists forecast a slowdown next year that could help 1995 cling to the title for most records.
``I'm not sure if the over-optimism that we saw in 1995 can be sustained,'' said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist for Norwest Corp. in Minneapolis. ``I think 1996 will not be as good as 1995 on almost any major economic indicator.''
Indeed, there were some troubling 1995 economic omens of the superlative kind. Americans ran up record debts, surpassing $1 trillion in IOUs for the first time.
Despite low inflation in the United States, natural gas prices set new highs this fall, pushed by cold weather in the Northeast and supply shortages.
On a comforting note for those who find cold refreshing, Coca-Cola Co. plans to spend a record $1.5 billion next year to expand its soft drink sales around the world, eclipsing by 36 percent this year's record $1.1 billion.
South of the border in Mexico, in an economy pummeled by a devalued peso, the worker's minimum wage never bought less - Mexicans need to work nearly four times longer than they did eight years ago to buy the same essentials.
At the opposite extreme, the cost of living actually dropped in Japan. Japanese are enjoying falling consumer prices, in what is shaping up as their first year of ``deflation'' since the 1950s.
Presiding over history's longest government shutdown, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole became the longest serving Republican leader in the history of the Senate.
The news last week brought recognition from Sen. Strom Thurmond, himself headed for a record.
``I hope he'll serve here continuously until he becomes the next president of the United States,'' said the 93-year-old South Carolina Republican, who early next year breaks the record as the oldest senator.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by AP. color. KEYWORDS: YEAR 1995by CNB