Excerpts from Bus.Wk:
THE 21st CENTURY STOCK MARKET
Ready or not, floorless trading systems are here
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IMHO: This is a good article. Please glance thru. if time permits.
Perhaps most notable is OptiMark, devised by market veteran William A. Lupien and defense industry consultant John T. Rickard. It's backed by several well-heeled investors, including Goldman, Sachs & Co., other major investment banks, and Dow Jones & Co., which owns 15%. The system features a supercomputer that conducts highly sophisticated courtships between buyers and sellers in cyberspace, arranging matches in nanoseconds, without layers of floor middlemen. It will begin trading NYSE stocks in October on the Pacific Exchange and next year on the screen-based NASDAQ stock market, which predominantly trades high-tech issues.
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-- NASDAQ is planning to put its network on the Internet.
-- Chicago's futures exchanges are debating when, not if, to close their venerable trading pits.
-- MATIF, the Paris futures exchange, shuttered its pits eight weeks after introducing screen-based trading.
-- London's futures exchange agreed to put some contracts online after losing one of its biggest to Germany's electronic exchange.
-- Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. is seeking approval to trade U.S. Treasury bond futures online.
-- The American Stock Exchange's acquisition in June by the National Association of Securities Dealers set off other combinations, including the merger of the Pacific Exchange and the Chicago Board Options Exchange, which are now exploring screen-based options trading.
-- The NYSE is considering linking with exchanges in Canada and Latin America and has opened talks with the Paris Bourse. NASDAQ's parent is having similar talks with Frankfurt and London.
-- The Securities & Exchange Commission, in a reversal, has proposed to let alternative trading systems operate with minimal oversight. ''Now, our basic philosophy is to get out of the way, while still providing investor protection,'' says Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr.
As cybermarkets emerge, they could have profound effects on every American with assets in the stock market, every publicly traded company, every securities industry employee, and countless investors. Electronic trading will also transform overseas markets. The changes they bring will be both disruptive and liberating.
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IMHO: I have enjoyed every bit in this long article.
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Inside Wall Street
ÿMORE CALLERS DIAL QWEST'S NUMBER
MORE CALLERS DIAL QWEST'S NUMBER
Stephen Dalton, head of First Capital Group, thinks he has spotted an up-and-coming prize in telecom gear and services, a fast-growing field. His pick: Qwest Communications International (QWST), the fourth-largest long-distance carrier serving retail and wholesale customers.
''It is dwarfed only by WorldCom,'' says Dalton, who manages assets of more than $1 billion. Dalton's record in picking mispriced stocks has beaten the market indexes. In the first half of 1998, his group, a unit of First Union, posted gains of 22.7%, vs. 17.7% for the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index.
Dalton says Qwest is well fixed to take advantage of changes in the industry, including growing demand for increased bandwidth capacity and Internet-related services. Qwest, which got a bad report in this column in late February, when it was trading at split-adjusted 36, has risen to 40 3/4 by July 28. Qwest is ''still little understood'' and deserves a higher valuation, says Dalton. He expects the stock will hit 60 in a year.
Certain analysts are also high on Qwest. Neither the merger of AT&T and British Telecom nor Bell Atlantic's purchase of GTE has dampened their enthusiasm. Those deals ''highlight the value of Qwest, with its state-of-the-art, U.S. long-haul network, and strong back office systems,'' says Blake Bath of Lehman Brothers. Qwest is building an 18,440-mile fiber-optic network, scheduled for completion by mid-1999. Bath figures Qwest will post earnings of 33 cents a share in 1999, vs. an estimated loss of 11 cents in 1998.
Analyst William Vogel of NationsBanc Montgomery Securities says Qwest will ''continue to do well,'' partly because it's the only company with a network in place for ''data Internet Protocol connectivity.'' And it is likely, he adds, that Qwest will also ''enter into a partnership with a European communications company over the next few weeks.'' Qwest spokesman Steven Jacobsen says the company is aggressively evaluating its options in Europe.
BY GENE G. MARCIAL
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A SHOT A DAY KEEPS THROMBOSIS AWAY?
PATIENTS WHO HAVE HAD chest pains or mild heart attacks face blood clots for months afterward--from clot-inducing proteins released into the bloodstream. But a new study raises hope that patients may be able to treat themselves at home for this risk by means of regular injections of the drug enoxaparin, marketed by Rhone-Poulenc Rorer under the brand name Lovenox.
Enoxaparin is a small-molecule version of the clot-busting drug heparin. Researchers led by Dr. Gilles Montalescot at Piti‚-SalpetriŠre Hospital in Paris report in the journal Circulation that levels of a clot-inducing protein called the von Willebrand factor increased dramatically in the 48 hours after a heart episode for patients treated with heparin, but far less when enoxaparin was used. In follow-up studies, 9 out of 34 patients treated with enoxaparin had another heart episode, compared with 17 of 34 patients who received heparin.
In an editorial in the same journal, Dr. Elliott Antman of Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston says: ''This new research might allow physicians to prescribe relatively unsupervised long-term self-administration of anticlotting therapy, sort of an insulin-like injection for coronary artery disease.''
EDITED BY CATHERINE ARNST
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A LOOK AT THE WILY SURVIVORS IN ASIA
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Excerpts:
Once signs of a bottom in the Asian economies appear, GLOBALT's Fullam plans to buy stocks such as Applied Materials, Federal Express, and insurer AFLAC. L. Roy Papp, who manages the Papp America-Abroad Fund, says Molex, a maker of electronic and fiber-optic interconnection products, and American Power Conversion, which makes power supplies, could also rebound. Michael Holland, of investment firm Holland & Co. in New York, favors J.P Morgan. The stock trades at less than two times book value, compared with 2.5 to 3.5 for competitors. ''It's quality financial assets at a discount,'' he says. ''When the Pacific Rim returns, these guys are there. They've already done the writing off.''
As yet, the end in the Asian crisis is not in sight. Until signs of recovery appear, investors may find that researching stocks in preparation for a pickup is a smart move.
By Suzanne Woolley
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Weathering the Storm
COMPANY/ STOCK 52-WK. COMMENT
TICKER PRICE* HIGH
AMERICAN INTL. GROUP AIG 152 15/16 153 1/2 Insurer helped by
flight to quality
APPLIED MATERIALS AMAT 31 1/16 54 3/16 Company's sell-off
may be near end
FEDERAL EXPRESS FDX 63 3/16 84 1/2 Asian shipments to
U.S. are growing
J.P. MORGAN JPM 127 5/16 148 3/4 High quality and
low book value
MATTEL MAT 40 1/16 46 9/16 Cheap Asian manufac-
turing a plus
TIFFANY TIF 43 52 Agile marketing keeps
demand strong
*July 27
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A DREAM HOUSE FAR FROM HOME
The ad stopped me as I skimmed the vacation-rental offerings in my husband's Yale alumni magazine: ''Florence--Country house on 54 acres. Fantastic views. $100 daily.'' I had been killing time as my husband, my son, and I sat in traffic on the Long Island Expressway--but suddenly I was having visions of us in the Italian countryside in the midst of the grape harvest.
I called the owner, Gary Ganz of Beverly Shores, Ind., that night. He told me the property, half an hour outside of Florence above the small town of Rufina, was available in the fall, and he mailed us photographs. Sure enough, the views looked impressive. The rooms were big, and the letters he sent us from satisfied renters reassured us. Without further ado, we signed up for the first week of October, 1997.
SURPRISES. Renting houses for vacations has enormous appeal. You can find places for much less than a hotel would cost, and the added space and full kitchen make relaxing easier. A house also gives you a taste of how the locals live. But renting is less predictable than checking into a Marriott. Renters need to be prepared for surprises, from unusual plumbing to disputes over security deposits.
Unlike the hotel industry, the house rental business is fragmented, with thousands of individuals and brokers offering properties in newsletters, magazine ads, and online. Some, such as Vermont Four Season Vacation Rentals, which offers many listings online (www.vermont property.com, 802 229-2433), are highly specialized. There are also dozens of generic rental Web sites, most of which provide descriptions and some pictures, with phone numbers for brokers or owners (table). A few services, such as ResortQuest International, let you make some reservations online. You'll probably have to pay up front--by check, money order, or credit card--and provide a security deposit.
It's important to do plenty of research. Before you sign up, call people who have rented the house and quiz them. Find out exactly where the house is located. Do you want to be secluded or in the center of town? Don't forget to ask about hazards such as steep staircases, especially if you're traveling with young children or older relatives.
Take steps to protect yourself from misunderstandings, too. Have a clear agreement about what is included in the lease. If a pool is supposed to be open, get it in writing. ''There's a lot of heartache involved if you don't do your homework on the front end,'' warns David Sullivan, chairman and chief executive of ResortQuest. Take before and after pictures in case disputes arise after you leave.
OFF SEASON. We encountered no such problems in our Tuscan house. In fact, our sole challenge upon arriving was getting the hang of the water heater. We had breakfast daily in our spacious kitchen while 13-month-old Henry ran laps around the table. On occasion, we picnicked in the adjacent vineyard. The summer crowds had left Italy, allowing us to take relaxing day trips to Florence and Siena. But the warm weather remained. Our one regret? We stayed only a week.
Pleased with our Italian experience, we decided to try again this spring--in the Dordogne region of France. We snagged copies of the Harvard University alumni magazine, available to non-alums for a nominal fee (617 495-5746), and sure enough, we found an ad for a stone farmhouse for $700 a week.
After speaking to the New York owners and seeing photos of the house, in the tiny hamlet of La Beconne, we quickly booked it. But our failure to probe further caught up with us. For example, owners Jennifer Gabbay and Ulla Heckel warned us about the house's two staircases when we told them we were traveling with a toddler and provided a safety gate for one. But we brushed off their warnings and didn't bother to query former renters about the layout--and then found we had to hover over our young climber. In addition, when we arrived it was unusually cold for early May. But since we hadn't talked to former renters, we didn't realize the stone house could be as chilly as the weather was.
Still, the house looked charming and the views were lovely, and being in an authentic farmhouse in the country exposed us to a beautiful part of France we never would have seen from a hotel. The owners' suggestions on restaurants and towns to visit were helpful. And we had wonderful picnics in the field next to our house, particularly a dinner including local white asparagus, strawberries, and a good Bordeaux.
It may be easier to book a room at a hotel, and it's certainly less risky. But if you have a taste for adventure and you do your homework, you can have a special vacation in a home away from home.
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Where to Find a Vacation Rental
SITE/ADDRESS/PHONE DESCRIPTION
INTERNATIONAL Offers rental and sale listings,
VACATION HOMES as well as some vacation
www.ivacation.com property exchanges
800 282-1594
IVY LEAGUE MAGAZINE Features some classified ads
NETWORK from several alumni maga-
www.ivymags.com zines with real estate offerings
RESORTQUEST A network of privately owned
INTERNATIONAL homes and condominiums
www.resortquest.com across North America
877 588-5800
WORLD WIDE Includes special rentals, such
TRAVEL EXCHANGE as an Irish castle available
www.wwte.com for millennium celebrations
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