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SCMP Reporter

LOOK at your portfolio of New York stocks. Do you own any shares in Glow Worm, Mad Dog, Slob, Winkie or Cha-Cha? You may well do without knowing it.

  Brokers on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) have developed a language of their own which helps, in part, to break up the monotony of a working day which starts at 9 am and finishes at three or even 4 pm.

 They have hundreds of nicknames for stocks, based on their ticker symbols, and not all are in good taste.

  A broker on the crowded floor of the NYSE is more likely to call ''buy 20,000 shares of 'Ukelele' '' than he is to use the correct name (Union Carbide Corp, whose ticker symbol is UK).

  A few examples of their word plays on stock symbols are: ''Standing Room Only'' from Southland Royalty Co's ticker symbol SRO; ''Dead Head'' from DH, the ticker symbol for Dayton Hudson; and ''Glow Worm'' from Corning Glass Works' symbol GLW.

  ''Mad Dogs'' refers to McDonnell Douglas's MD symbol, ''Slob'' is Schlumberger's SLB, ''Big Nose Louie'' comes from Beneficial Company's BNL symbol and ''Hot Pants'' from HP for Helmerech and Payne Inc.

  Then there is ''Winkie'' from Warner Communications' WCI symbol and ''Cha-Cha'' from Champion International Corp's symbol CHA.

  Many other stocks get nicknames. Some brokers say they prevent errors and others say they just roll off the tongue more easily.

  There is ''Pie in the Sky'', for Piedmont Airlines, ''Dynamite'' for General Dynamics, ''Radio'' for RCA Corp, and ''Hamburgers'' for McDonald Corp. There is even rhyming slang: ''Itchy Scratchy'', for example, is the nickname for Hitachi.

   Birth of the dollar  READERS ask where the US dollar gets its name from. The story begins in 1516, when silver was discovered in a corner of Bohemia known as Joachim's Valley or Joachimsthal.

 The counts of Schlich, who owned the mine, used the silver to mint a one-ounce coin called a Joachimsthaler which was of such high quality it became desired throughout Germany.

  Other nations began to use these fine coins, calling them ''thalers'' or ''dollars'' until in time the name stuck.

 They first turned up in America during the revolution. The revolutionaries realised they had no chance of winning against the trained British troops, so they hired the finest army in the world at the time, the Prussians, led by General Von Stueben.

 Von Stueben was not going to accept the questionable money of some upstart revolutionary force and he demanded Thalers. The Americans conceded and the general forced the Redcoats to surrender.

 On another tack, the brilliant Alexander Hamilton, America's first Secretary to the Treasury, came from the Antilles, which was under Spanish rule and where pieces of eight were the currency.

  Hamilton made the dollar a metric unit and changed it to gold which he obtained by selling bonds backed by land. However, for fractions of dollars he went back to the pieces of eight. This is why today US Stock Exchanges still quote in fractions while in Europe stocks are quoted in decimals.

   Bonds building  GLOBAL bonds were super strong for over 18 months until about last November. The first to tank was US Treasury bonds which fell about 90 days before the others. But almost all bonds went to new lows in early June, then rallied about June 22.

 Nobody has been more vocal than I during the many months they deserved to be roasted. Now the table has turned and while the others were declining, US Treasuries were ranging.

  It appears they are building a base. They have gained support and a bit of a push can put them above 105-116 in the September contract, which will confirm they are bullish and ready to move up. German bunds appear to have levelled out and can now move up and I think we can also expect an improvement in Australian bonds.

  Global bonds appear to be a good investment unless there is meaningful inflation. I can see more profit potential in good bonds than I can in stocks, except for resources stocks.

   Oil fired up  I SUGGESTED weeks ago, when crude oil was $14.00 per barrel that oil would move up, despite being in the clutches of a three-year bear market. Since March, the price has gone up 35 per cent and is now $19.50.

 Usually young bull markets reach a target area and then range a while before continuing their rise. Oil will probably not rise before the end of August. But its next target is $24.50 and once it hits this, it should move considerably higher.

 It is now getting a boost from the demand side which it has not had for years. And since it is said the economies of Europe, the US and even Japan are rapidly making their way out of recession, oil users are now worrying that there will be a shortage.

  Oil is the world's most important commodity and the one that can stop a recovery if supplies are short. I believe you may make a bit of money by buying a December futures contract on crude oil and another on heating oil.



Trading names on the NY exchange