Card Holders Repay Record Balance Amounts

Sat., March 14, 1998

From Wire Reports

U.S. cardholders repaid 14.99 percent of their balances, the highest amount in the nine-year history of Moody’s credit card index, compared with 13.98 percent in January 1997.

“The rising trend in the payment rate may be due in part to slowed growth in overall credit card balances as lenders tighten their standards,” said Edward Bankole, a Moody’s senior vice president and analyst.

Faster repayment in part is attributable to borrowers transferring debt into loan consolidation programs offered by home equity and other lenders, Moody’s said.

Credit quality improved somewhat compared to the year-earlier period.

However loans written off as uncollectable rose to 6.48 percent in January, compared with 6.39 percent in the year-earlier period.

Instrument industry measures up

Gauge the precision instrument industry, Salomon Smith Barney is telling clients. These firms sell devices to chemical, pharmaceutical and other companies to help improve productivity - which is important with prices tough to raise. Average P/E ratios for these stocks are one-fourth lower than the market as a whole, and growth is 100 percent greater.

The top picks: Ametek Inc. (symbol: AME); National Instruments Corp. (NATI); Sybron International Corp. (SYB); Thermo Electron Corp. (TMO); ThermoQuest Corp. (TMQ) and Metrika Systems Corp. (MKA).

Several have shot up in price, so wait for dips if you want to buy.

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Card Holders Repay Record Balance Amounts

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