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Tuesday, January 25, 2000 Page: 10B
Summit Bancorp reported fourth-quarter operating earnings of $127.1
million, an increase of 8.5 percent over $117.1 million the previous year.
Operating earnings per diluted share were 73 cents, up from 67 cents in the
fourth quarter of 1998.
The return on assets for the fourth quarter was 1.40 percent, and return on
common equity was 17.97 percent. The efficiency ratio was 52.7 percent for the
quarter.
Summit Bancorp is a regional bank holding company headquartered in
Princeton, N.J. It has $36 billion in assets, $25 billion in deposits and a
market capitalization of $5 billion.
Wilkes provides database
Wilkes University has joined with JOBTRAK.COM, the largest online job
listing service in the college market, to provide a job posting and resume
database service accessible to students and alumni 24 hours.
The service, available on the Internet, has a password-protected database
that can only be accessed by students and alumni of partner schools. This
security allows employers to target their recruitment efforts to Wilkes
University, as well as other colleges and universities nationwide.
The service is provided for free to students and alumni, while employers
pay a nominal fee to post their positions.
SEC boss gives advice
Investors should look at mutual fund fees and other factors besides past
performance when choosing funds, and be wary of ads boasting of triple-digit
returns, the nation’s top securities regulator said Monday.
At a time when 177 mutual funds are posting annual gains of 100 percent or
more, investors also should look at a fund’s costs, which can have a huge
impact on returns, said Arthur Levitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange
Commission. A 1 percent higher annual fee will reduce a fund investor’s ending
balance by 18 percent after 20 years, he noted.
The stakes are high. About 83 million Americans now invest in mutual funds,
whose total assets are estimated at $6 trillion, up from around $1 trillion in
1990.
Levitt decried a recent proliferation of advertising by mutual fund
companies boasting of triple-digit returns that may have been pumped up by
stocks whose shares soared after an initial public offering. Only the fine
print in the ads explains why the performance was so strong, he said.
Black doctors rap HMOs
The nation’s largest association of black doctors blasted the managed
health care industry, saying HMOs are excluding them, reducing black patients’
choice in selecting physicians of a similar background.
However, independent studies of the situation do not support the doctors’
allegation, and a representative of the industry denied that HMOs are
discriminating against blacks, saying they “need a diverse network of
providers” who can relate well to patients.
The 13 black doctors who held a press conference Monday to bring attention
to the issue acknowledged that thus far they have little more than anecdotal
evidence of any widespread move by HMOs to keep them out. But they said they
hope greater public awareness will fuel further research and documentation of
what they see as the dearth of black professionals in the health maintenance
industry.
Dow plunges 243.54
Stocks plunged Monday as optimism about corporate earnings gave way to
jitters about rising interest rates and their impact on profit growth.
According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average
fell 243.54 to close at 11,008.17, its steepest loss since Jan. 4, when it
lost 359 points.
Broader stock indicators also fell in a volatile session. The Nasdaq
plummeted 139.54 points, its worst loss since Jan. 5, when it lost 150 points.
After a strong opening, stocks collapsed at midday as investors looked
ahead to the next meeting of the Federal Reserve on Feb. 1 and 2. Many on Wall
Street now fear that an interest rate increase at that meeting will be the
first of several this year as the central bank works to stave off inflation.