Friday, April 26, 2024
Miles from the Mainstream
D. R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor
Wall Street

FEBRUARY 12, 2006 --

Carl lcahn, said to be seeking influence at Time Warner claims that the price of its stock should be in the mid-20's, not 18-plus, as of now.

This would bring the price where it was a few years ago, when AOL was still part of the company name. As a Time Warner shareholder, this writer would inquire -- why only the mid-20s range of a few years ago?

Richard D. Parsons inherited an apparent mess at Time Warner -- deriving from the merger with AOL. LPR wonders what the people in charge of financial institutions that hold hundreds of millions of shares of Time Warner think: does Chairman Parsons merit an A or B+, or a C- or D?

LPR has no difficulty with the article in the current Basrron's that offers support for
Mr. Parsons.

Meanwhile, the market continues to approach, and then back away from, 11,000 on the Dow Jones Industrial
Averages.

LPR is not encouraged by suggestions that the Fed will continue Greenspan-ism, without Mr. Greenspan -- that is, tinkering with interest rates as an anti-inflationary measure.

LPR wonders if the Fed is concerned that people will wonder why it is needed if
it doesn't tinker with interest rates.

Hey, Fedguys, LPR will not demand that the Federal Reserve be abolished if you don't come out each month with interest-rate tinkering. How about leaving things
alone so we can see if the Dow Jones will go, and stay, above 11,000?

This just might tell us how much confidence there is in the economy.

Last week, LPR heard a report on radio that the market was down that day -- because crude oil was down.

Aren't we told the stock averages go up when crude oil is down? Does anyone take media explanations of market performance seriously? (Of course, it's a
great-paying job, presumably, if you can get it.)