Seligman Takes Another Flyer In Computer Sector
J. & W. Seligman & Co. shut one technology stock fund almost at the same time it decided to open what it hopes will be another high-flying mutual fund.
Seligman’s new fund will invest in small-sized computer companies. The Seligman Small Companies Technology Fund will be managed by Paul H. Wick, the same person who oversees the top-ranked Seligman Communications & Information Fund.
Wick’s new fund is expected to open to investors in about two months, provided the Securities and Exchange Commission grants its approval. Seligman wants to limit the fund’s assets to $125 million, which may reduce the amount of time the fund stays open.
Attracting $125 million isn’t tough to do these days. The Seligman Communications & Information Fund ballooned in size to $2.5 billion from about $1 billion in the two-month period before it was closed June 30.
Wick started managing the fund, which concentrates on computer-related companies, for New York-based J. & W. Seligman in January 1990. After falling 11 percent that year, the fund has soared. It rose 54.9 percent in 1991, 17.3 percent in 1992 and 35.1 percent in 1993.
Choices for ‘danger zone’
As we approach what singer Cyndi Lauper, in quite another context, called “the danger zone,” there are two choices: money market funds or stocks offering safety and ballast.
The newsletter Dow Theory Forecasts recently listed companies that provide “steady, though unspectacular earnings improvement.”
Among the top choices: drugmakers Abbott Laboratories and Merck & Co.; Equifax Inc., supplier of credit card information; General Electric Co.; Lubrizol Inc., fluids and venture capital; Pall Corp., filters for biomedics and aerospace; and Sara Lee Corp.
Money worries make them cry
If worrying about money makes you weep, cheer up, you have lots of company. Twenty percent of Americans report their financial condition has made them lose emotional control, with many breaking down in tears.
This according to a new poll of 1,000 households by Louis Harris & Associates Inc.
Despite the angst, only one in 10 people had ever resorted to professional financial counseling, and just three in 100 had sought professional help for their money-based stress.
Thirty percent of those polled said they had enough money for all they want or need, and 3 percent said they had more than enough. Forty-nine percent said they could afford only necessities, and 17 percent said they were struggling to get by. Among those struggling, 61 percent were women and 39 percent men.