International Business : Global Markets and Economic Update

FOREIGN STOCK MARKETS

Stock index trends in native currencies and in dollars adjusted for currency fluctuations. The dollar-adjusted returns are what U.S. investors would realize.

Last week Year to Date Market Native In dollars Native In dollars Argentina -2.2% -2.2% +21.8% +21.4% Australia -1.1 -0.5 +20.5 +13.9 Brazil +5.9 +0.1 +1,445 +78.7 Canada -3.2 -2.6 +9.3 +5.4 Chile -1.4 -1.1 +11.8 +5.0 France -1.5 +0.3 +16.1 +15.0 Germany -1.8 -1.3 +21.4 +22.6 Hong Kong -1.0 -0.9 +32.8 +32.9 Indonesia +3.2 +3.3 +67.3 +64.5 Italy -2.2 0.0 +41.9 +37.3 Japan -0.3 -2.3 +28.2 +50.1 Korea +3.3 +3.2 +5.0 +2.1 Malaysia -2.0 -1.9 +39.8 +43.9 New Zealand -0.9 0.0 +35.3 +44.8 Singapore -0.9 -0.6 +23.0 +26.4 Spain -3.9 -0.5 +37.5 +23.8 Taiwan +0.5 +0.4 +13.7 +7.2 Thailand -0.1 +0.1 +14.2 +15.9 U.K. -1.0 +0.4 +9.0 +11.9 U.S. +0.1% +6.2%

Source: Morgan Stanley Capital International

MEXICAN STOCKS

The market continues to be held hostage by worries over the North American Free Trade Agreement’s prospects in Congress. The Bolsa index has trended lower after peaking at 1,949.51 on Sept. 7.

Domestically, however, the news has been good: The latest tally of Mexican government debt showed the total at $127.5 billion, a drop of 14% since January, 1992. Also, August inflation was 0.5%, which puts the 12-month inflation rate at 9.6%, down from 11.9% in calendar 1992.

The latest Mexican stock offering in the U.S., Coca-Cola Femsa, was issued at $20.50 a share Monday and closed at $22.25 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

Source: D.A. Campbell

SPOTLIGHT: MEXICO With inflation below 10% for the first time in more than 20 years, the government may take more aggressive steps to revive the sluggish economy. But officials hope approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement, designed to ease trade restrictions on the continent, will increase economic growth.

Sources: Bank of America; World Information Services