Hawaii stocks hit hard too

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Stocks of Hawaii companies were caught up in today's overall stock market decline, in what brokers said had little or nothing to do with the Hawaii economy.

"What's going on with the local stocks is a ripple effect from what's happening with U.S. stocks and what's going on globally," said Greg Robertson, president of Cadiha & Co. in Honolulu.

All of the issues in the Star-Bulletin's daily list of Hawaii companies and companies that do business in the islands showed declines.

Hawaii's two biggest bank holding companies appeared to get caught in the sell-off of banks that are much more heavily involved in Asia than they are.

Pacific Century Financial Corp. ended the day down more than $2 and First Hawaiian Inc. was down more than $1.

"All the banks are getting hit and the regional banks are getting hit probably unfairly," said Ted Jung, managing director of the Honolulu office of Smith Barney Inc.

"So much of it has to do with the market in general," Jung said.

Hawaii stocks in general have been relatively unaffected by the recent swings in the market.

"We've seen these declines before and they've always been good buying opportunities," said Ron Hoakley, financial consultant at Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner Inc.'s Honolulu office, Hoakley said.

"I wonder if this will test whether we really are long-term investors," he said. "We've done a lot of planning and our clients tend to be long-term investors."