The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, April 01, 1994, Page 2, Image 2

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    By The
Associated Press
Edited by Kristine Long
NEWS DIGEST
Netrraskan
Friday, April 1,1994
Stock market falls for sixth straight day
NEW YORK — Heavy selling
weakened Ihe stock market Thursday
for the sixth straight day, dragging the
Dow Jones average down more than
40 points by early afternoon and rais
ing more anxiety about whether a 3 1/
2-ycar-long rally is over.
The Dow Jones average of 30 big
name stocks, the best-known barome
ter of the market, rose 20 points in the
first few minutes of trading then re
versed into negative territory and fell
about 70 points before it partly recov
ered. Broader market indicators also
fell sharply.
The Dow average’s fall triggered a
so-called “circuit-breaker” rule on the
New York Stock Exchange that limits
high-volume computerized trades
when Ihc average falls or rises 50
points. The rule, instigated after the
October 1987 market crash, is de
signed to limit the market’s volatility.
It tumbled more than 72 points to
3,626.75 on Wednesday, its lowest
level since early November.
Events ranging from political un
certainty to rising interest rates sent
investors stock-dumping for the fifth
consecutive trading day, leaving the
Dow down nearly 9 percent off its all
time highof3,978.36, reached on Jan.
31.
“It’s a very nervous market,” Dav
id Shulman, chief market strategist at
Salomon Brothers, said.
Mutual funds, which in recent years
have become the most popular way for
U.S. places Japan first
on trade sanction list
WASHINGTON — The Clinlon
administration took the first step
Thursday toward producing a “hi 11 isl”
of countries that could be targeted for
trade sanctions, with Japan leading
the list of alleged unfair traders.
In releasing an annual review of
foreign trade barriers, the administra
tion cited 35 countries and four trad
ing blocs for allegedly erecting barri
ers to American goods, services and
investment.
As expected, the biggest portion of
the report, 44 pages, was devoted to
Japan.
In releasing the report, the Office
of the United States Trade Represen
tative contended that Japan’s barriers
far exceeded those of any other major
industrial country and had placed “an
unacceptable burden on the global
trading system.”
It accused Japan of erecting barri
ers to the sale of a wide range of
American products and services, in
cluding autos and auto parts, comput
ers, wood products, pharmaceuticals
and medical devices, telecommunica
tions equipment and financial servic
While the trade barriers report has
been produced for the past nine years,
Thursday’s report takes on added sig
nificancc and will be viewed as a
much bigger threat to the countries
named because of action taken March
3 by President Clinton.
On that dale, the president decided
to re institute an expired provision of
U.S. trade law known as Super 301. It
allows the administration to establish
a target list of countries considered to
have built the most harmful barriers to
U.S. goods and set strict negotiating
deadlines for dismantling the barri
ers.
Under the new Super 301, the ad
ministration has six months, until Sept.
30, to decide which countries it will
target for the intense negotiations.
Those countries will be drawn from
Thursday’s report.
In addition to Japan, America’s
other major trading partners also came
in for their share of complaints. The
section of trade barriers erected by the
12-nation European Union took up 26
pages in the report while the section
on Canada, America’s single biggest
trading partner, covered 12 pages.
China, whose surplus with the
United States has shot up sharply in
recent years, came in for 16 pages of
criticism, while South Korea occu
pied 12 pages.
Nebraskan
Night News Editors Jeff Robb
Matt Woody
Editor Jeremy Fitzpatrick
472-1766 -T
Managing Editor Adeana Laftin JfP***'1
Assoc News Editors JeffZ^any
Stave Smith An Director jtomy MahalIng
Editona! Page Editor Rainbow Rowell General Manager Dan Shattll
FAX NUMBER 472-1761
The Daily Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, Ne
braska Union 34, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday during the
academic year weekly during summer sessions. _ . .
Readersare encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by
phoning 472-1763 between 9 a m and 5 p.m Monday through Friday
access to the Publications Board For information, contact Doug Fiedler, 436-6287.
PosmKr lend iSTcfuinoM u Daay NetxaaWn. NWnuka Union 34.1400 R
SU,™**, NE
NEBRASKA
Softball
NU vs. Kansas
Saturday
April 2
I & 3 p.m.
Sunday
April 3
II a.m. & 1 p.m.
NU Softball Complex
14th & W
$2 - General admission
For ticket information call 472-3111.
Americans lo put their money to work
in the slock market, arc now in many
eases reporting a shi ft toward redemp
tions. That is, investors arc cashing
out.
The drop has left many experts
puzzled.
“To novice investors, this must
seem like one perverse stock market,
James Stack said. Stack writes an
investment letter called the InvcsTcch
Market Analyst.
“Here we arc, three years into a
recovery with the economic party fi
nally kicking into high gear and no
possibility of a recession. And how’s
the stock market react? It rolls over
and plays dead.”
Some analysts have attributed the
LESOTHO
A declared state
of emergency
NEW YORK — Here’s another
one for consumers to start worrying
about—that unopened soft drink you
left in the pantry might be getting
stale.
Pepsi-Cola Co. said it will start
warning its customers with easy-to
rcad dates stamped on soft drink con
tainers how long they have before the
soda starts losing its flavor.
The nation’s second-biggest soft
drink maker said consumers are de
manding more information about what
they cat and drink, and it expects
others to imitate its move.
jitters to rising interest rates, political
turmoil such as the Whitewater affair,
the assassination of Mexico’s leading
presidential candidate and U.S. trade
disputes with Japan and China.
The market’s weakness comes de
spite an improving economy and con
tinued low inflation.
Many Wall Streeters still believe
the market is simply undergoing a
long-due correction, or temporary
rcntrcnchmcnl that works off excess
enthusiasm by instil ling a dose of fear.
“Be calm,” Stephen Quickcl, edi
tor of the newsletter U.S. Investment
Report, said. “Bear markets do not
begin in the midst of strong economic
upswings, when inflation and short
term interest rates are still down around
3 percent.” (
I n Tokyo, where trading began sev
eral hours after Wall Street’s close,
the benchmark Nikkei average closed
Thursday down 447.99 points, or 2.29
percent, at 19,111.92. On Wednes
day, the average lost 149.83 points, or
0.76 percent.
The drop on Wall Street remains
modest by the standards of past
shakeouts.
In the crash of 1987, the Dow fell
more than 22 percent in a single day,
and 36 percent over a stretch of eight
weeks.
The last certified bear market for
stocks, from mid-July to mid-October
1990, knocked 21 pcrccntoffthc Dow,
from just under 3.000 to 2,365.
PRETORIA, South Africa —
President F.W. dc Klerk declared a
state of emergency and ordered the
army into the Zulu stronghold of
Natal Thursday, directly challeng
ing the fiery Zulu leader who op
poses the upcoming all-race elec
tions.
De KJerk’s move was aimed at
stemming the violence in the prov
ince and ensuring that Natal resi
dents could vote. It could result in
a bloody showdown with Zulu na
tionalist leader Mangosuthu
Buthelezi and his warriors.
Buthelezi, who also heads the
Zulu-dominated Inkatha Freedom
Party, called the troop deployment
an “invasion” of KwaZulu, the
Zulus’ self-governed homeland
within Natal. He said the sight of
South African soldiers would only
stoke his followers’ wrath.
Speaking on state television
Thursday night. Buthelezi said fur
ther talks between him and the
government on whether Inkatha
would drop its boycott of the April
26-28 elections were unlikely.
Buthelezi said hisparty was “be
ing coerced into the process through
the barrel of the gun.” He ques
Pepsi plans to add freshness date
Pepsi’s rivals including industry
leaderCoca-ColaCo., Dr Pepper-Sev
en-Up Cos. and Royal Crown Co. say
product freshness isn’t an issue for
most consumers because most soft
drinks are consumed long before los
ing flavor.
They each said they had no plans to
follow Pepsi’s lead. But Coca-Cola
conceded it has made unadvertised
changes in the coding on its products
in recent months that would enable it
to match Pepsi’s move if demand
grows.
Somers, N.Y.-based Pepsi said soft
drinks generally tasle best when they
arc consumed within about three
months from production fordietdrinks
and six to nine months for sugared
beverages depending on the contain
er.
Diet drinks lose flavor because non
sugar sweeteners break down faster.
Soft drink bottlers have for years
imprinted cans and bottles of soft dri nk
with cryptic codes that delivery work
ers use to rotate products. Pepsi s fresh
ness dating will convert those into
something a consumer can understand.
NEBRASKA
Baseball
NU vs. Oklahoma State
Licensed Action
k Nebraska
k Neck
Ties
ONLY
^19-95
FRIDAY, April 1
7 p.m.
SATURDAY, April 2
2 p.m.
SUNDAY, April 3
1 p.m.
Easter Egg Dash for kids
following Sunday Game!
Buck Beltzer Field
$2 - general admission
2 for
$35.95
3 for
$44.95
1
Wholesale
Prices
Available
CALL TO ORDER
(215) 824-2914
or (215) 357-4954
South African president
sends troops to Natal
-4*
What is being done
is really comparable
to someone holding
a woman for
someone to rape
that woman.
— Buthelezi
Zulu nationalist leader
tioncd whether fair elections could
be held under a state of emergency.
“What is being done is really
comparable to someone holding a
woman for someone to rape that
woman. It amounts to that for us,”
he said.
Buthclezi and his nephew, Zulu
King Goodwill Zwclcthini, arc de
manding an independent kingdom
and say they fear that an expected
victory by the ir main rival, the ANC,
will crush the rights of the 7 million
Zulus.
Inkatha and the African Nation
al Congress have been engaged in a
low-boil war, blamed for some
11,000 deaths since 1990.