SHORT INTERESTS: TIPS, TRENDS, OBSERVATIONS

Dow row vow now

Things are looking up for Dow Jones & Co. Not only is its stock climbing out of the plumbing system, it’s struck a deal with the Independent Association of Publishers Employees, which represents almost a third of its employees, including writers at Barron’s and the Wall Street Journal.

They would get a 9.5% raise over three years and a guaranteed 10% kicked into their retirement plans, plus a 2% match. They previously got a non-guaranteed 15% contribution linked to profit sharing. The workers promised to put their 30-foot inflatable rat (InvestmentNews, Oct. 11) away for three years if the pact is ratified.

Eurogouging?

You’ll be shocked, shocked to learn that banks in Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands are under investigation for charging too much to convert the local currency into the yet-to-be-printed euro. The banks include some pretty big names, including Allied Irish, ABN Amro Holding NV and Banque Bruxelles Lambert. The banks, of course, are happy to cooperate in an investigation of what a European Commission spokesman suspects might be price cartels.

Wimpy old England

Over on that island across the Irish Sea — no, not the one with the tailless cats, the big one where they used to set little children to sweeping chimneys and slightly larger ones to making ink in lampblack factories (see Blake, William, and Dickens, Charles) — business managers are complaining that they have to work more than 40 hours a week.

More than two out of three of the 1,200 bosses surveyed by the British Institute of Management believe their health is suffering and their sex lives are declining; nine of 10 say they have no time for anything but work; one in 10 is working at least 60 hours a week.

Just like old times, slave-driving bosses got the blame, but now they’re abetted by laptops, cell phones and e-mail. Home is no longer a castle: 83% said they’re consulted electronically when the drawbridge is up and the portcullis is down.

If you can wake them there

New Yorkers apparently have much better things to do after hours than to trade securities, according to a survey by discount broker Quick & Reilly. Just talking about securities is plenty enough for 57% of Big Applets before 9: 30 a.m. or after 4 p.m., says the survey, as reported by sister publication Crain’s New York Business.

Interest, not surprisingly, is highest on the Left Coast, where markets close at 1 p.m.and open at, ugh, don’t think about it. Nationally, by the way, 48% of Americans like the after-hours idea.

Now numbers have sex

We all remember imaginary numbers from high school algebra, but the ’90s have brought us female numbers, too. Creative Investment Management Research, a Washington double-dome outfit, has come up with a list of the top investment sites for women and members of minority groups, based on its survey of 250 websites. The least-dead-white-male-oriented financial calculators, according to the list, are Financenter and Homepath; stock quotes come from DTlink; something called PinkBull is a top source of investment information.