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ms. <unk> had been forced out in july in a bitter power struggle with <unk> <unk> <unk> chairman and a longtime floor trader on the exchange
mr. <unk> told one person familiar with the new york exchanges during the search for a replacement that he was looking for a president who would be responsive to the needs of the membership and the board
mr. thompson first came to the exchange in N and has been executive vice president since march N
he previously held posts of senior vice president of compliance and senior vice president and general counsel
by contrast the comex in july imported a highly regarded outsider arnold f. <unk> as its president
mr. <unk> N was a senior officer of the philadelphia stock exchange and is considered a specialist in new financial products
mr. thompson is n't <unk> of experience with new products however
for the past two years he said he and the exchange 's research department have been working on the new natural gas contract seeking a good delivery site and studying the natural gas market
our members are eager to begin trading this contract so we expect no difficulty in attracting <unk> to the natural gas pit he said
the educational effort of teaching companies in the natural gas industry how to use the futures to hedge would have to continue for another a year or two he added
the merc 's extremely successful contracts in crude oil gasoline and heating oil have made it the largest futures exchange in new york and third behind the chicago board of trade and chicago mercantile exchange
in a recent interview mr. thompson said the biggest problem facing all commodity exchanges was one of image
earlier this year the u.s. attorney indicted N floor traders and one clerk at the two big chicago exchanges
federal authorities in new york started investigating exchanges in may though no <unk> have been handed down there
so far they have issued scores of <unk> some of which went to members of the new york merc
mr. thompson will have to face some of the consequences of those <unk>
in a recent general accounting office study the merc was found to have been the most <unk> in <unk> exchange rules
it <unk> the smallest number of <unk> of traders and fines of the four largest commodity exchanges studied over the past five years
it also had both the <unk> and least experienced investigators per million contracts traded
the merc received considerable criticism in N when it was discovered that its compliance director kevin p. conway who then was responsible for <unk> the exchange 's busy oil and metal pits was engaged in other personal business activities on exchange time including <unk> trips according to a new york merc report prepa...
mr. conway is no longer at the exchange
we had a management breakdown in N in terms of compliance mr. thompson says
we recognized the problem and took care of it
he says that even if the natural gas contract boosts volume at the exchange strongly the N business plan calls for having adequate compliance people to ensure that exchange rules are being followed
for years the five new york exchanges have been talking about <unk> in various aspects of their business in order to improve the efficiency of their operations
<unk> there has even been talk of mergers between one or more exchanges
so far there is little to show for such efforts
mr. thompson believes the case for working together is stronger now than ever
the cost of competition has become extremely high he says
we must find ways to save money for the futures commission merchants who do business on our exchanges
he thinks that progress in cooperation can be made in areas where no vested interests have built up
one of those areas is the development of a hand-held electronic device that would permit floor traders to enter trades as they make them
the <unk> has recommended the creation of a system to record trade data so that an independent <unk> audit trail can be established to prevent customer fraud
the merc is now <unk> with the comex in developing such a device to provide such an audit trail
the chicago exchanges also are working on such a device
another major electronics problem faces mr. thompson the creation of a 24-hour trading system that can be used outside normal trading hours
in january the new york merc signed a letter of intent with the chicago merc as a preliminary step to joining their electronic system called <unk>
but in may the chicago merc said it was looking into creating a common system with the chicago board of trade and it suspended negotiations with the new york merc
mr. thompson says his exchange is n't waiting for the results of the chicago exchanges ' cooperation
it recently began a pilot program to test an electronic trading system called <unk> the automated trading system created by the international commodities clearing house
looking ahead to commodity markets this week
copper
michael <unk> metals trader for painewebber inc. in new york said there is good technical support between $ N and $ N a pound for december copper which ended friday at $ N a pound up N cents
he views the $ N to $ N range as a buying opportunity and considers the market <unk>
i think the market could pop up to the $ N to $ N level without too much difficulty he said
but he said it wo n't climb further and he expects it to remain in a trading range between $ N and $ N
he noted that the equity markets will set the tone for the industrial metals this week and traders should keep an eye on wall street
william <unk> research director for elders futures inc. in new york said for a rally to occur there must be demand from the far east
he added that talk of strike settlements at producing mines has been fully discounted
however to resume the bull trend according to mr. <unk> copper would have to close over $ N
he said there are two reports this week that might affect prices the purchasing managers report on wednesday and the unemployment report on friday
precious metals
friday 's strong price gains confirmed a turnaround in the precious metals markets according to painewebber 's mr. <unk>
most traders will be looking to buy on <unk> he said
he thought the moves in the metals last week were most influenced by the uncertainty in the equity and other financial markets
according to mr. <unk> floor traders say there is good support for december gold in the $ N to $ N per ounce area around $ N an ounce for december silver and in the $ N to $ N an ounce range for january platinum
william <unk> research director for elders futures inc. in new york said the price action for all of last week is the best he has seen on a weekly basis in more than a year
he said last week 's activity in gold could <unk> a move to $ N an ounce for the december contract
he also said traders should keep an eye on the stock market because if the stock market rallies that could <unk> trouble for the precious metals
he said traders should be on the <unk> for how metals producers react to this rally
i expect to see some selling but will they kill this one as they have every rally in the recent past by selling and <unk> in prices for their production
he noted that for the first time in months there was some light investor interest in the metals
grains and soybeans
prices this week will likely be dominated by reports on the progress of the corn and soybean harvest as well as by speculation about more purchases of u.s. crops by the soviet union
in recent weeks warm and dry weather has <unk> the midwest harvest and that is permitting farmers to rebuild the <unk> that were cut by the N drought
if the weather allowed farmers to work in their fields over the weekend many midwest grain elevators will probably sell futures contracts today at the chicago board of trade in order to hedge their weekend purchases from farmers
that selling of futures contracts by elevators is what helps keep downward pressure on crop prices during the harvest
traders will also watch for whether the soviet union continues its traditional fall buying of u.s. grain
so far this month the soviets have bought about N million metric tons of u.s. corn
there may be some activity in soybean prices this week as investors try to get rid of the contract for november delivery
investors usually do n't want to take physical delivery of a contract <unk> instead to profit from its price swings and then end any obligation to take delivery or make delivery as it <unk> expiration
employees of the globe and mail a thomson corp. newspaper in toronto voted to accept a tentative contract agreement saturday <unk> a strike at canada 's leading daily
under the terms of the three-year contract similar to one reached at <unk> corp. 's toronto star newspaper earlier this month the N globe and mail workers will see a raise of N N in the contract 's first year and N N in each of the following two years
<unk> <unk> vice chairman of the southern ontario newspaper guild the union representing the workers said thomson made significant concessions in the final round of talks
in addition to wage increases the union negotiated improved vacation plans benefit packages and pension plans mr. <unk> said
he said more than N N of the bargaining unit voted in favor of the agreement
wall street is just about ready to line the <unk> <unk> with paper stocks
for three years a healthy economy and the <unk> effects of a weak dollar propelled sales and earnings of the big paper companies to record levels
as the good times rolled they more than doubled their prices for pulp a raw material used in all sorts of paper to $ N a metric ton this past spring from $ N a ton at the start of N
but now the companies are getting into trouble because they <unk> a record expansion program while they were raising prices sharply
third-quarter profits fell at several companies
put your money in a good utility or bank stock not a paper company advises george <unk> of smith barney
other analysts are nearly as pessimistic
gary <unk> of oppenheimer & co. expects a N N decline in earnings between now and N for <unk> paper companies which account for the majority of the industry
robert <unk> of duff & phelps sees <unk> stock prices falling N N to N N in N perhaps N N if there 's a recession
paper companies concede that business has been off recently
but they attribute much of the weakness to customer inventory reductions
generally they maintain that barring a recession and a further strengthening of the dollar against foreign currencies the industry is n't headed for a prolonged slump
it wo n't be an <unk> drop a weyerhaeuser spokesman says
last week mr. <unk> lowered his rating from hold to avoid on <unk> cascade champion international great northern nekoosa international paper louisiana pacific and weyerhaeuser
oppenheimer 's mr. <unk> meanwhile is steering clear of <unk> container stone container and federal paper board
mr. <unk> is cool to georgia pacific and <unk>
lawrence ross of painewebber would avoid union camp
the companies in question believe the analysts are too pessimistic
great northern nekoosa said the odds of the dire predictions about us being right are small
international paper <unk> that it is better positioned than most companies for the coming overcapacity because its individual mills can make more than one grade of paper
a <unk> spokesman referred to a speech by chairman john <unk> in which he said that markets generally are stable although some risk of further price deterioration exists
stone container chairman roger stone said that unlike for some other paper products demand for stone 's principal commodity <unk> <unk> remains strong
he expects the price for that product to rise even more next year
<unk> container said analysts are skeptical of it because it 's carrying a lot of debt