AT THE BELL

Dow breathing easier

A solid February employment report eased inflation worries and helped propel the Dow Jones Industrial Average up almost 269 points on Friday to a record close of 9736. “We anticipate higher prices into the end of March, when the Dow should push past 10,100,” says bullish stockpicker Hamilton Lewis, whose Houston firm has $77 million under management. “We’re remaining 100% invested in quality names like Sears Roebuck & Co., Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., Citigroup and Dell Computer Corp.,” adds Mr. Lewis, who expects the market to reach 11,400 by late fall, after a summer retreat.

Much Roth biz new biz

Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. reported good news on the Roth individual retirement account front at the Investment Company Institute retirement plans confernce in New Orleans. It surveyed eight securities companies, including itself, that account for a third of the Roth market and found that 37% of Roth accounts represented new business.

The eight companies opened 1.3 million Roth accounts worth $15.3 billion. Of that, $13.1 billion came from conversions from traditional IRAs. The average conversion totaled $20,000; the average new account totaled $1,950, just below the $2,000 annual contribution limit.

The mighty are falling

Lipper Inc.’s reclassification of domestic stock mutual funds, according to analysis by Financial Research Corp. of Boston, will drop eight of the 10 largest funds down a notch.

The funds dropping one quartile include Fidelity Magellan, Washington Mutual Investors, Fidelity Growth & Income, Putnam Growth & Income, Vanguard Windsor II and American Century Ultra, reports InvestmentNews sister publication Pensions & Investments.

Another would-be timer tamer

Invesco Funds Group is joining fellow Amvescap PLC affiliate Aim on a growing list of mutual fund companies clamping down on market timers. Denver-based Invesco is notifying shareholders in eight international stock funds and a high-yield bond fund that it will impose 2% redemption fees for shares held less than three months on purchases made after May 1. Shares held less than six months will be charged a 1% exit fee.

TCW to try adviser market

Institutional money manager TCW Group Inc., which began going after wirehouse business in the last year, is targeting independent advisers with the placement today of nine mutual funds in Charles Schwab Corp.’s fund marketplace. The Galileo stock and bond funds have two share classes — an institutional class with a $250,000 minimum and a retail class with a $2,000 minimum.

The Los Angeles firm manages more than $50 billion, mostly in pension plans.

No national insurance license

The Senate Banking Committee, which last week approved legislation allowing banks, securities firms and insurance companies to get into each others’ businesses, deleted a provision in the bill that would have set up a national commission to license insurance agents, an issue pushed by the insurers. Instead, the committee included a provision in the legislation expressing a sense of the Congress that states should enact uniform licensing requirements.

Chase still on the prowl

Refusing to take no for an answer after being spurned by Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., Chase Manhattan Corp. is aggressively maintaining its pursuit of a merger with one of the nation’s largest securities houses, reports InvestmentNews sister publication Crain’s New York Business.

Chase CEO Walter Shipley has told bank insiders that he has held talks with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., which rivals Chase in size and influence. The other top candidates: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and, yes, Merrill Lynch.

Pension specialist adds funds

After more than 25 years running retirement plans for public-sector employers, ICMA Retirement Corp. rolled out a $6 billion retail fund group last week. Washington-based ICMA converted 13 of its 18 commingled portfolios into no-load mutual funds, which it is marketing to participants in the 4,500 plans it oversees. It has no plans to market them to the public.

Corrections

A Feb. 22 New Jobs item misstated the new position of Fred T. Busk III. He is president and CEO of Bank of Bermuda (New York), not of its Hamilton-based parent.

A March 1 At the Bell item should have noted that Nvest Cos. LP and its 48% owner, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., are in talks with Asahi Mutual Life Insurance Co. on Japan efforts.