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Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Monday, April 17, 2000
Hawaiian's business ascends 15 percent
Hawaiian Airlines Inc. said it carried 564,169 passengers last month, a 15.1 percent increase from 489,959 in March 1998.The increase in numbers helped push up the airline's load factor, the percentage of available seats that were occupied, to 80.4 percent, up 4.1 points from 76.3 percent in March 1999.
Through the first three months of 2000, Hawaiian carried 1.5 million passengers in its interisland, mainland-Hawaii and Hawaii-South Pacific services, a 10.1 percent increase from 1.36 million in the year-earlier period. The first-quarter load factor was 74 percent, down 1 point from 75 percent in the 1999 three months.
Safeway invests in GroceryWorks
PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Safeway Inc., the third-largest U.S. supermarket chain, said it will invest $30 million for half of closely held GroceryWorks.com to sell groceries over the Internet.Safeway will receive preferred stock in Dallas-based GroceryWorks.com that is equal to about 50 percent of the online grocer's common shares. GroceryWorks.com also expects to get $20 million from at least one other investor, the company said. The agreement makes GroceryWorks.com the exclusive online grocery service for Safeway, and lets the Internet company use Safeway's Vons, Dominick's and other brand names. A Safeway spokeswoman said it was too soon to say whether the service would be offered in Hawaii.
Sears' net up 61% on improved sales
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- Sears, Roebuck & Co. said first-quarter earnings jumped 61 percent as the retailer boosted department-store sales and set aside less cash for uncollected credit-card accounts.Net income rose to $235 million, or 65 cents a share, from $146 million, or 38 cents, a year earlier. Per-share profit matched the average estimate of analysts. Sears earlier this month said it would earn 62 cents to 67 cents a share, prompting analysts to raise forecasts to an average 65 cents from 46 cents.
Of Mutual Concern
News for mutual fund investors
Bear funds ruled in Friday's rout
NEW YORK -- The Nasdaq composite index's rout on Friday bloodied most mutual funds but left those that bet on declining stocks with one-day gains of more than 10 percent. The 5,948 stock mutual funds tracked by Bloomberg News declined an average 10.7 percent last week.The biggest loser of the April 14 plunge that drove the Nasdaq down 9.7 percent was the Jacob Internet Fund, the four-month-old offering managed by Ryan Jacob, one of last year's top-performing managers. Jacob Internet was fell 19.5 percent Friday and is down 45 percent for the year through Friday. Liberty-Stein Roe Small Company Fund was right behind Jacob with a 18.3 percent drop Friday. It is down 9 percent year to date.
Friday's winners were led by ProFunds UltraBear Fund, which gained 12.8 percent, and is up 15.4 percent for 2000 through Friday. It was followed by the Prudent Bear Fund, which rose 10.5 percent Friday and now has a 22.8 percent year-to-date gain. The Potomac OTC/Short Fund was next with a 10 percent gain on Friday. It is up 7.7 percent for the year.
More investors look to international offerings
BOSTON -- U.S. mutual fund investors, faced with gut-wrenching volatility at home and drawn by above-average returns overseas, are looking to international funds for relief, recently released data show. But investment professionals, who generally advocate international investing as a diversification tool, said there is no sure way to escape the volatility that is roiling domestic stock markets."Most of the volatility actually translates into international markets as well," said Thomas Mengel, who manages the $225 million Waddell Reed International Growth fund. "Europe follows very much these days the pattern of Nasdaq, and the only market that is a little bit on its own is Japan."
Preliminary data from fund tracker TrimTabs showed flows into international funds in April are on a pace to produce a net gain of $8.5 billion, compared with $5.8 billion in March and outflows of $400 million in April 1999. According to Morningstar, the average international fund returned 48.51 percent in 1999 but only 2.7 percent in the first quarter.