A Look Back At The Past Week On Wall Street

What’s hot

For investors who like to sink their money into companies that promise medical cures and technological breakthroughs, this was a week for a strong stomach. Some sweet gains came when the FDA recommended that taxol, produced by Bristol-Myers Squibb, the Princeton, N.J., pharmaceutical giant, be used to treat AIDS-related Kaposi’s Sarcoma. That sent shares up $3 to finish the week at $82.125….Across the country, Cupertino, Calif-based Tandem Computers powered up nearly $5 per share to $19.75 after Compaq Computer agreed to buy the company. Combined, the firms would be the world’s leading supplier of servers for personal computer networks.

What’s not

Prices soured in Princeton when biotech firm, Liposome Co., reported disappointing test results of Ventus, a drug to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS. Shares dove $16 to close the week at $8.4375….Back in California, San Jose-based Komag Inc., a supplier of thin-film for computer hard-disk drives, announced that earnings will decline in the second half of 1997 as Seagate Technology, a major customer, said it would cut expected orders. Komag shares plummeted $8, closing the week at $16.4375.