We'll start by commenting on EntreMed, so we won't leave you hanging about its latest activity. You will recall that it went from 12 1/16 on Friday, May 1 to a high Monday May 4 of 84 7/8, closing at 51 13/16. It closed on Tuesday at 43 1/8, and on Wednesday at 31 1/8. You realize that it's very important to have a score card for a stock like this. Thursday's action was similarly wild, as it opened at 28 15/16, went to a low of 27 and then to a high of 36 3/4, before closing at 33 1/16 up 1 15/16.

Today's trading was the most "normal" since all this began; it opened at 34 3/8, had a high of 35 11/16 and a low of 32 3/8, before closing at 33 1/4 up 3/16. This should be a classic lesson to everyone on why to avoid the temptation to jump aboard a red hot stock, even if you read about it in the New York Times. Those sophisticated readers thought they were "stealing" the stock at 80 plus, and have since taken gas to the tune of $50 per share! I believe New York was the site of many scalpings in the days of the early settlers, and it's heartwarming to see history repeating itself. We'll be updating you from time to time.

Today's market gains offset Thursday's losses, as the employment report was taken positively. Even though unemployment reached a low going back many years, manufacturing hours worked showed a decrease. All this, of course, is the Street's effort to try to predict what the Fed's action will be when the meet on May 19. If I were a betting man, I would say that the odds were 55 to 45 against any Fed tightening. And even if we're wrong and rates go up, they probably wouldn't go up more than 1/4 point. Even under such an unlikely interest rate increase scenario, I would expect the market to take it well, after some initial moderate sell-off. I would expect further market gains would then be in store, as the uncertainty of what the Fed might do would now be behind us. At least until their next meeting in mid-summer. Stay tuned.

The Market Pro - May 8, 1998