On this day
Revisit the music, news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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New Jersey Nets acquire Rony Seikaly and Brian Evans from Orlando Magic for David Benoit, Kevin Edwards, Yinka Dare and their 1998 first-round draft pick; New York Knicks obtain Terry Cummings from Philadelphia 76ers for Herb Williams and Ronnie Grandison (M)
Caryn James reviews ABC television drama The Wedding, produced by Oprah Winfrey and directed by Charles Burnett, from novel by Dorothy West; photos (M)
U.S. Trade Deficit Widens Imports exceeded exports last year by the biggest margin since 1988 and the gap likely will widen, aggravating trade tension with Asia. Page D1. Evidence Implicates Radon Growing evidence points to naturally occurring radon gas in homes as the likely cause of as many as 21,000 lung cancer deaths a year. Page A13.
Technology Stocks Rise, But Dow's Run Ends at 6 Stocks were generally lower, ending a streak of six consecutive record highs for the Dow Jones industrial average. But technology stocks rose sharply after a strong earnings report from Dell Computer, lifting the Nasdaq index.
Market Place column on concern over rapid rise of margin debt among small investors; margin debt, the borrowing against value of a securities portfolio, typically grows fastest when stock market is performing well as alternative to taking profits; growth has been particularly striking in recent years at discount brokers like Charles Schwab & Co, suggesting that smaller, less experienced investors could be responsible for much of the borrowing; amount of margin debt outstanding among brokerage firms that are members of New York Stock Exchange climbed nearly 30 percent, to $126.1 billion; in contrast, consumer debt rose just 4.7 percent last year, down from 6.9 percent gain in 1996 and 14.2 percent rise in 1995; graph (M)
Music on My Birthday
The Top 50 albums for the chart week of February 18, 1998, covering February 20, 1998.
Soundtrack
Pearl Jam
Celine Dion
Spice Girls
Usher
1998Emam Ashour, Egyptian footballer[†]
Emam Ashour Metwally Abdelghany is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Egyptian Premier League club Al Ahly and the Egypt national football team.
1998American figure skater Tara Lipinski, at the age of 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.[†]
Tara Kristen Lipinski is an American former competitive figure skater, actress, sports commentator, and documentary film producer. A former competitor in women's singles, she is the 1998 Olympic champion, the 1997 World champion, a two-time Champions Series Final champion (1997–1998) and the 1997 U.S. national champion. Until 2019, she was the youngest single skater to win a U.S. Nationals and the youngest to become an Olympic and World champion in figure skating history. She is the first woman to complete a triple loop-triple loop combination, her signature jump element, in competition. Starting in 1997, Lipinski had a rivalry with fellow skater Michelle Kwan, which was played up by the American press, and culminated when Lipinski won the gold medal at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano.
In 1998, the world population was approximately 6,007,066,690 people[†]