SHORT INTERESTS: TIPS, TRENDS, OBSERVATIONS

Bursting boomers’ bubble

Sure, more baby boomers are getting serious about saving for retirement, but the gap between expectations and reality still seems pretty large, according to a recent survey of boomers holding individual retirement accounts at Denver-based First Trust Corp.More than 86% of the 282 respondents say they are actively saving for retirement. That’s the good news.

More than half, however, have saved less than $65,000 for retirement, yet nearly 60% say they intend to save at least $500,000. What’s more, 54% expect to retire within 15 years.

Couple that with the fact that many of these baby boomers will be dealing with college expenses — 60% have children 12 years old or younger — and those plans appear, er, optimistic.

This group isn’t entirely starry eyed, though. Just 11% are counting on Social Security or a company pension plan as a major source of retirement income.

First Trust and the University of Colorado at Denver sponsored the survey, which was mailed to 2,000 households.

Call it the spaghetti prize

You know Communism’s days are numbered when American executives start winning business awards in China.

Chinese officials gave the Marco Polo award recently to David H. Komansky, chairman and chief executive of Merrill Lynch & Co. The award, given by the State Bureau of Foreign Experts of China’s State Council (It may be easier to give up communism than clunky names for government agencies), goes to the company or person who helps out with the China Project. The project is an effort by the country and a not-for-profit business group, Volunteers of America, to bring American business leaders to share their knowledge. Former President Bush was a past recipient. Merrill Lynch, the largest brokerage in the U.S., was the first securities firm to open an office in China. That was in 1993.

Consumer in drivers’ seat

The S&P 500 has been hard to beat this year, but 11 sectors, all consumer-related, have managed to do so. The reason? Employment and wages are rising while inflation remains subdued, causing real personal disposable income to climb 3.8% in the past year, says Paine Webber Group Inc. Americans are paying up for big- and small-ticket items: from soft drinks (Coca Cola Co. and PepsiCo are on the buy list) to light vehicles (auto supplier Lear Corp.) and homes (Sherwin-Williams, “a gorilla in the paint market.”)

The firm serves up 20 stock picks from old standbys like Walt Disney Co., Procter & Gamble Co. and Kroger Co. to firms in apparel: The Gap and Men’s Wearhouse; technology: Staples, America Online, Compaq Computer Corp. and Microsoft Corp.; media: Time Warner, New York Times Co. and Gannett Co. Rounding out the list: Avon Products, Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., Patriot American Hospitality Inc. and Reno Air.

Avon also made the buy list of Goldman Sachs & Co. and U.S. Trust Corp. Both expect the cosmetics company’s earnings to get a boost from cost cutting efforts even though the firm has a heavy exposure to Asia’s battered economies.