ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, December 7, 1996             TAG: 9612090021
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: A-7  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL

THE LOCAL REACTION

Investors worried by Friday's frenzy on world stock markets must remember one simple phrase: Stay the course. Investment returns often depend more on investor behavior than on the stocks they buy. History shows that investors who buy and hold realize larger returns than those who buy and sell repeatedly out of panic or indecision.

- Lindsey Quesinberry, a broker with J.C. Bradford & Co. in Roanoke.

"If you're investing in stocks, you've got to be focused on the long term - three to five years or more. Over the short term, [stocks] are always going to fluctuate."

- Ben Hartman, an investment representative with Edward Jones in Roanoke.

Greenspan "has the unique stature to force a 'reality check' on market participants. [But] his remarks should not change anyone's view of the Fed's short-term policy. The degree of carnage on financial markets may be warranted as a sensible bout of profit-taking after the incredible run of the past few months. In this case, a correction is the right thing, but it should be viewed as only that, not the start of a Fed tightening campaign."

- David Orr, economist with First Union Corp.

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