Subject: Quarter's Profits Rose, But Not as Powerfully As in Earlier Periods
Date: Published: 5/9/88 63 lines
Source:  WALL STREET JOURNAL. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

   Robust Earnings:  
   Quarter's Profits Rose,
   But Not as Powerfully
   As in Earlier Periods
    ---
   Some Long-Battered Sectors
   Report Strong Rebounds;
   Dollar, Tax Cuts Helped
    ---
   Gains Are Likely to Dwindle
    ---
   A Wall Street Journal News Roundup

   Corporate profits chalked up a solid 24% gain in the first
quarter, but they may be starting to lose some of their
pizazz.  Most economists expect a distinct slowing in profit
increases in coming months, and some even predict declines.

[522 lines irrelevant to AIDS have been removed. -- sysop]

 NONFERROUS METALS
 Profits surged amid robust demand and as years of
cost-cutting showed up on the bottom line.  Earnings tripled
at copper companies and more than doubled at aluminum
producers, and further gains are expected.  Analysts say
copper prices rose partly because the AIDS epidemic is
afflicting labor at copper mines in Zambia and Zaire.
Moreover, Chile and Peru can't obtain capital to expand
capacity.  And U. S. and Australian producers, expecting copper
prices to slide sooner or later, aren't willing to add much
capacity.  William Siedenburg, a Smith Barney, Harris Upham
analyst, expects copper prices to slip next year, after a
period of inventory replenishing.  He also sees some softening
in aluminum-ingot prices in the third quarter, given the 4.5%
first-period drop in U. S. copper demand.  But the aluminum
outlook is excellent.  Prices of can sheet -- the biggest
volume product at Alcoa and Reynolds -- probably will rise
again, effective in July.  As long as ingot prices stay high
 -- they hit records in the first quarter -- mill-product
prices will continue strong.
                                1st Qtr   1st Qtr     %
    10 Firms                         1988      1987     Chg
    Aluminum Co Am                 178,700    49,500   +261
    Amax                            82,300   120,300   - 32
    Asarco Inc                      46,193   -21,279    ...
    Callahan Mining                   -399       646    ...
    Eagle-Picher Inds               10,400     8,750   + 19
    Hecla Mining                     4,947    -3,485    ...
    Homestake Mining                20,133     5,793   +248
    KaiserTech Ltd                  36,300   -31,100    ...
    Phelps Dodge                    92,500    16,800   +451
    Reynolds Metals                 70,100    25,900   +171
    TOTAL                          541,174   171,825   +215

[654 lines irrelevant to AIDS have been removed. -- sysop]

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