Reverse spin / The week in Review

Even Alan Greenspan couldn’t stop the stock market. Mr. Greenspan and his minions on the Federal Open Market Committee raised the discount and fed funds rates another quarter-point on Tuesday. Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index promptly responded with record-after-record close, crossing 1500 for the first time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Buck Rogersed back above 11,000 after seven weeks in the dumps and 51 weeks after it first closed above the then-magic 10,000 level (That’s Dow Jones’ John Prestbo and and New York Stock Exchange hegemon Richard Grasso [right] celebrating last March 29 when the Dow closed at 10,006).

The Nasdaq composite shinnied up toward 5000 again, then zipped across on reports that eBay Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. renewed merger talks.

It must be spring. Again.

One potatoe, two…

On the job front, Republican Norman S. Johnson, 69, a Salt Lake City securities lawyer, will leave the five-member Securities and Exchange Commission this summer. He’s going home to the Beehive State.

Former Vice President Dan Quayle is hopping into the money business, joining the Phoenix office of JD Ford & Co., a Denver middle-market investment banking house. “Access to decision-makers on a global basis” is his strong suit, the company indicated.

Biz booming

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. doubled its profits in the quarter ended Feb. 29 to $541 million, thanks to investment banking fees and $150 million profit from selling its stake in Internet company VerticalNet Inc.

Over at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., profits, while a record, rose only 67% to $887 million, poor babies. Trading was the big winner, but brokerage commissions doubled and money management, with 33% more money to manage, was up 59%.

Poor Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. had only its second-best quarter ever, with profits up a measly 49% to $1.54 billion. Stock trading, investment banking fees and, yup, money management (both profits and assets up 18%) brought the good news.

Date Britain

Chase Manhattan Corp. is looking to sweep London asset manager Robert Fleming Holdings off its feet. The deal — talks are in early stages — would add $110 billion or so to the $224 billion Chase manages from New York.

Deregulation notwithstanding, other banks were busy being banks: Bank One Corp. is selling a $2.15 billion portfolio of deadbeat, sorry, subprime, real estate loans to Household International Inc. so it can concentrate on its banking business. Ahem. Is Wingspan, its year-old Internet bank, next to go?

Strictly honorable

Vanguard closed its booming $4.6 billion actively managed Capital Opportunity Fund (up 31% for 2000 through March 21) because, as chairman John J. Brennan announced, “The fund’s extraordinary record may be attracting investors…on the basis of its recent performance rather than with long-term intentions.” Horrors.