MARKET SAVVY : SAVVY CONFIDENTIAL: A Briefing for Investors : 2000 Will Be Investing as Usual, Officials Say

The year 2000 will begin with “business as usual” in U.S. securities markets, a phalanx of top-ranking regulators, stock market chiefs and other officials asserted at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday.

The officials, including the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange and the National Assn. of Securities Dealers (the parent of the Nasdaq Stock Market) urged Americans not to change their investing habits out of fear that stock and bond transactions could get fouled up because of the year 2000 computer problem.

Tests of securities industry computer systems have produced only a few minor and correctable failures, the officials said.

John Koskinen, President Clinton’s point man on the so-called Y2K bug--the term refers to some computers’ inability to distinguish between the years 1900 and 2000--was less reassuring about the situation overseas.

He said the securities industry is better prepared than most sectors abroad but that problems with infrastructure such as power grids and telecommunications systems might cause economic damage, particularly in developing countries.

U.S. investors, however, will be insulated from any risk that their transactions in foreign securities will fail to be processed properly, because brokerages and other intermediaries are required to be Y2K-compliant, said Richard Grasso, chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.