> Wall Street Journal - February 15, 2000
>
> Heard on the Street
>
> Margin Debt Set a Record In January, Sparking Fears
<snip>
> The worry? This debt load could magnify any fall in the stock market,
> as selling from investors who are forced to meet margin calls
> exacerbates a decline.
>
> A somewhat comforting thought -- at least on a relative basis -- is
> that much of this piling on of debt isn't being done by the proverbial
> guy on the street.
<snip>
> At Dallas-based Southwest Securities Group Inc., for example, which
> clears for many day-trading firms, whose customers trade in and out of
> the same stocks all day from sophisticated workstations, saw margin
> debt rise about 35% in the final six months of 1999 to $900 million,
> said Eddie Anderson, executive vice president of operations.
If day-traders aren't the man in the street, who is?
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com