A Weekly Digest of The World's Financial Press: Barron's

Analysts are pondering the revival of interest in industrial cyclicals

AT SOME point over the next five year the US economy may falter. But the setback is likely to be short-lived, and the long-term expansion that began in 1982 should persist. And over the same time frame the economies of the rest of the world will be in much better shape than today.

That scenario for the global economy seems more plausible than any other - far more so than the thick gloom that pervaded the analyst community only six months ago. And it perhaps best explains the sudden revival of industrial cyclical stocks.

Analysts have been reluctant to view the the industrial cyclicals as buying candidates. And to get back to bleak reality, while earnings have generally been looking better for these stocks one must bear in mind that almost across the board earnings are projected to be flat to lower for 1999.

So it may be premature to start buying these stocks. But timing is always a fine art and , especially with a five-year outlook, it's better to be too early than too late.

- Gene Epstein, staff writer