By THOMAS K. GROSE AND STEPHEN SHORT

SOFTWARE GIANT CHOOSES N.Y.S.E.

The scene last week outside the New York Stock Exchange's Broad Street headquarters looked like the set of a surfing movie--palm trees and volleyball games on a beach made from 50 tons of sand. Music was provided by '70s disco kings Kool and the Gang who pumped out hits like Celebration. Although the market took a 300-point nosedive on Tuesday, the Big Board did have reason to celebrate. Germany's SAP, Europe's largest software company, chose the N.Y.S.E. for its stock listing in the U.S. Most high-tech heavyweights, including Microsoft and Intel, list on the electronically traded NASDAQ stock market. And NASDAQ had wooed SAP, a provider of business applications software whose name is an acronym for Systems, Applications and Products. The marriage got off to a rocky start. In its first week of trading, SAP's U.S. share price dropped by almost 10%.

NO GOOD NEWS ON HONG KONG'S HORIZON

Hong Kong officials have struggled over the past year to remain upbeat about the territory's deteriorating economic performance. But last week, when official statistics showed the economy had shrunk by 2.8%, even Financial Secretary Donald Tsang could only describe the results as "pretty miserable." Indeed. Not only was the decline worse than even the gloomiest government forecasts, it marked the worst performance in more than a decade. More such negative records seem inevitable. Government economists estimate that GDP will shrink by 3.5% this year, after last year's 5.3% growth, but even that may be optimistic. Property markets, the opium of Hong Kong's investment-happy middle class, have been slipping for several months. Hong Kong's stock market is close behind, with the Hang Seng Index down 40% in the past year. Perhaps most worrisome of all, the retail sector has been pummeled by a 40% decrease in arrivals of tourists. The growing economic problems north of the border in China could make "pretty miserable" seem like the good old days.

HERE TODAY...GONE TOMORROW

A few years ago, American utilities seeking a European beachhead went on a buying spree in the U.K., scooping up eight of Britain's 14 regional electric companies. But American dominance of British utilities may be short-lived. Last week, New Orleans-based Entergy placed London Electricity up for sale as part of a $4 billion restructuring. It paid $2.1 billion for the power company just 18 months ago. Entergy hopes it can match the return achieved by Virginia's Dominion Resources, which paid $2.7 billion in 1997 for East Midlands Electricity and then sold it last month to Britain's PowerGen for $3.3 billion. Though the timing of the two deals is probably coincidental, others may arise following the deregulation of Britain's domestic power market, which begins next month. Deregulation should bring consolidation, leaving perhaps only half a dozen energy suppliers within a few years--most offering consumers a combination package of electricity and gas. It's possible, of course, that American investors will own the lion's share of those remaining, but British utilities are staging a comeback of their own. Scottish Power, British Energy and National Power are even looking for acquisitions in the U.S., where they see plenty of opportunities. Notes Richard Alderman, utilities analyst at London's Merrill Lynch: "Within 12 months, most major U.K. power companies will have purchased a significant U.S. company." What goes around comes around.

WHO'S THE CHATTIEST OF THEM ALL?

It's not surprising, with both Nokia's and Ericsson's head offices so close at hand, that Scandinavia ranks top in mobile phone usage by percent of population

42% -- Finland
38 -- Norway
36 -- Sweden
29 -- Denmark
25 -- Iceland
24 -- Hong Kong
20 -- U.S.
16 -- Singapore
15 -- Austria
14 -- U.K.
14 -- Switzerland
11 -- Netherlands
10 -- Belgium
10 -- France
10 -- Germany

Source: Mobil Tele Branschen