High interest boosts money mart funds
THE BATTALION
Page 7
United Press International
NEW YORK — The present high
Interest rates have given the 50 or so
money market mutual funds around
he country a big lift, says Paul
lobertson, president of Capital
Preservation Fund of Palo Alto,
Calif.
The money market funds, whose
issets as of Nov. 1 were estimated
ly Robertson at about $8.5 billion,
ire a creation of the inflationary era.
He said many of them are small
mt the largest, Merrill Lynch’s
leady Assets Fund, has a husky
1.3 billion in assets.
Unlike older mutual funds, yield
Music
magazine
goes big
United Press International
NEW YORK — If the great rock
nusic era that began 25 years ago
loesn’t suddenly fade, Richard
Iranciforte should be a rich man
omeday.
Even if rock music gives way to
iomething much mellower and
amer, Branciforte, who is 32, still
night make the big time.
He hasn’t done badly riding the
ock music tide with a free distribu-
ion semi-monthly entertainment
lewspaper called Good Times since
[raduating from Columbia’s grad
ate school of business 10 years ago.
He was holding down a dull sort
f MBA status job with American
elephone & Telegraph Corpora-
ionand remembering all the fun he
ad editing The Cay^e, an indepen-
ent undergraduate social activities
wmal on the campus of Queens
iollege.
He decided to get into journalism
ut he also decided that profitable
ewjournalistic ventures have to be
eryspecial in orientation, have free
istribution and be geared to very
igh volume advertising. So he
arted a local rock music monthly
iLong Island called Action World.
Others had the same idea. Scores
small newspapers and magazines,
line free distribution and some for
iws-stand sale, cropped up around
lecountry. But Branciforte was the
le to see that such a paper had to
both extremely comprehensive
id very sophisticated technically,
ilitically and psychologically if it
as to grow.
Changing the name of Action
'odd to Good Times in 1972 was
le of Branciforte’s best strokes,
le title was broad enough to cover
any phases of entertainment and
to restaurants, small night
ubs and similar establishments
m which a lot of the advertising
d to come.
Good Times is now published in
os. ree editions — for the greater
house we’ve ew York market, south Florida
i our draw, id parts of Ohio. It has a circula-
i t inspected >n of about 100,000 and grossed
be next fit) >00,000 last year.
It publishes around 88 pages
'ery two weeks. The printing is
intv housint lntrac ted out. The advertising so-
inls citors are salaried; the writers
ikried and free lance.
The paper reviews films and local
BrazosVal- a ge efforts as well as music groups
23 percent ^ recordings and devotes a lot of
’ lace to feature stories about young
«k performers and other enter-
It
is listed last among their aims with
safety first and liquidity second.
Generally they are completely cut
off from growth prospects, which
often are the main purpose of tra
ditional mutual funds.
Capital Preservation Fund, for
example, invests only in U.S.
Treasury obligations, which don’t
grow.
The business of these funds has
gone up and down as prevailing
interest rose and fell, Robertson ex
plained.
“\Yhen interest rates dropped in
1976, our fund’s assets fell from $56
million to $40 million. Now, with
interest rates sky high, we re up
above $100 million and we can fluc
tuate as much as $10 million in a day
because we have some large corpo
rate investors who switch big sums
suddenly to take advantage of an
opportunity to get even a substantial
fraction of a point more interest for
just a few days.”
Robertson said few persons
realize that even investors with
rather modest liquid sums some
times can increase their yield by up
to 2 percentage points by a judicious
shift of funds to take advantage of
special conditions. He said his fund
by Stevf Miw
mgh the
is the wintti
t it could be i
“ itldi
Diamond salad
United Press International
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — P.T. McAllister recently dug up
radishes in his garden and found one wrapped in diamonds.
But McAllister had an explanation. He said a neighbor, Remmie
Hammond, was helping in the garden more than a year ago when he
lost his diamond-studded wedding ring worth about $400, a 25th
anniverary gift from his wife.
McAllister said he was putting together a salad last weekend when
he dug up the vegetables and found the ring.
“I had told Mac it would come up on a carrot, but I was just
joking,” Hammond said. “I didn’t think it would happen."
had only one corporate investor who
had actually realized that large a
gain by a shift but that others who
followed the money markets closely
had realized increases of more than
a point.
In order to make these quick
shifts possible, the money market
funds have to stay very liquid and
give their investors withdrawal
privileges comparable to those of an
ordinary bank checking account.
“As a matter of fact we actually
give our investors checkbooks to use
to transfer their holdings.”
Just as many corporations write
Stamp series
to honor pope
United Press International
VATICAN CITY — The Vatican
mails said Wednesday they will
issue a series of stamps com
memorating the 34-day reign of
Pope John Paul I.
It said 1.45 million series of four
stamps each will be put on sale start
ing Dec. 11. The stamps, worth 70,
120, 250 and 350 lire (8, 14, 30 and
40 cents), will show the late pope
sitting in throne, smiling, walking in
the Vatican gardens and blessing.
They will bear the dates of his re
ign, Aug. 26, 1978 through Sept. 28,
1978.
checks to pay bills on rather re
motely located banks so that they
will continue to have the use of the
money involved for a few extra days,
the money market fund managers
make a big deal out of what
Robertson calls an extended float.
Four banks in widely separated
corners of the country have been
chosen to clear the checks of the
fund’s investors.
By astutely choosing the bank on
which to draw his checks when he
shifts funds or makes withdrawals
for other purposes, the investor can
increase his yield from the fund. He
can continue to draw interest on his
money for up to nine days before
the check finally clears, Robertson
said.
He said at least half the money
market funds have this remote bank
check float feature.
veak poii
n the restf
ird. Bra®
at IH P*; .
u ts seflM ners a rount l the country, it is
Highest^ str *buted at music stores, clubs,
5 percent
ation can!*
lew gron
Emersonei'
ovie theaters, restaurants and the
nd of clothing shops that draw pop
usic lovers.
Branciforte now has a definite
Ian for a coast-to-coast circulation
really. TV ‘about 850,000 with 16 editions in
*ne states by 1982. He says that
[Quid bring in revenues of $4 mil-
cities in 1116 ke Y to g ettin 8 the big plan
nling is launching a Los Angeles
dition.
er you
gou get
China will be
regular U.S.
customer
United Press International
WASHINGTON— Agriculture
Secretary Bob Bergland, ending a
10-day tour of China to discuss trade
and agriculture, says he expects that
nation to become a “regular and sig
nificant” customer for U.S. farm
products.
Bergland said Tuesday he was
impressed with the sincerity of
Chinese officials in their desire “to
cooperate with the United States in
several agricultural fields.”
At the same time, the Agriculture
Department announced the sale of
200,000 metric tons of corn to
China.
“I personally have no doubts that
there will be a noticeable expansion
of agricultural trade between the
two countries, and we have already
begun to work out the details for ex
changes in agricultural sciences,
technology and statistics,” Bergland
said.
“Based on our discussions, we be
lieve that the Chinese are likely to
become regular and significant pur
chasers of U.S. grains and c''-*- —
Bergland said. “Thus, it appears
that the prospects are good for a
continued growth in our agriculture
trade.”
The Soft Touch
i:
707 Texas
846-1972
Elegance
in
lingerie
for
youi
T I TTYITTTTTT TTTTTf TTTT
Will the MOSHER MAFIA
RETURN JEFF HANCOCK
in time for Yell Practice?
YOU the TAMU Students
can make the DECISION
by4SilWNG yaar can goods <
money to pay his ransom.
ELEPHANT
WALK
T-SHIRTS
You want ’em,
we’ve got ’em!
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