Ice, as usual there's nothing much to report on the 'Thing', but here's a couple of reports to add to it's volatility. You know I love this volatility?
It's going to make me a billionaire too!!
>>c The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- After a holiday season of hype about online commerce, it's time for ''e-companies'' to show whether business is good enough to justify an increasingly high-stakes rally by Internet stocks.
Empowered by easy clicks, tiny trading costs and passionate feelings about the World Wide Web's potential for everything, online investors have helped fuel the buying frenzy, which most professionals call perilous.
Mutual funds and other big investors, which are usually responsible for driving the stock market, have largely kept to the sidelines, fearful that some of the stocks may fall as quickly as they rose.
If the Internet rally falters, it won't be Yahoo!'s fault, thanks to another robust profit report from the popular Internet site and search engine late Tuesday. But it's unclear whether lesser-known players will be able to prove that they're worth what Wall Street is paying for their shares these days.
Most don't even have profits, and will only need to show higher sales or even declining losses in order to spark even more buying of their shares.
Even the slightest disappointment could cause a major reversal.
One of the chief reasons why individual investors are venturing into waters that the professionals are avoiding is that the Internet itself has made it so easy for people to move in and out of stocks every day.
''You have firms advertising that they can set up people as day traders. Give them 'X' amount of money, and they'll give you the software and the machinery,'' said Barry Berman, head trader at Robert W. Baird, a Milwaukee-based investment firm.
Most eye-catching in this high-stakes game have been the daily moonshots fueled by Internet-related announcements from online newcomers and older companies trying to reinvent themselves. Last November, for instance, book store operator Books-A-Million announced the revamping of its Web site and saw its shares triple in one day.
On any given day, and for no apparent reason, an industry ''veteran'' such as Yahoo! can soar 20 percent from levels that already represent a 1,000 percent gain in less than a year.
Since professional money managers must report their performance to clients once a month, they have a strong incentive to stick with companies that have more dependable profits and stable share prices. Surprisingly, the investors who do seem willing to take chances are those with far less experience and much shallower pockets.
''In general, you don't see institutions paying the kind of (prices) you've got on those kinds of stocks,'' said Berman. He noted that a large amount of trading in Internet-related companies is being conducted in 200- or 300-share blocks rather than the thousands often bought and sold in each trade by major portfolio managers.
Even the few mutual funds that bill themselves as cyber-minded rarely stray beyond the big names like AOL and Yahoo!
The Robertson Stephens Information Age Fund, which normally devotes about 65 percent of its portfolio to the information technology industry, counted America Online, Amazon.com and Yahoo! among its top ten holdings at the end of September.
But those three stocks accounted for only about 13 percent of the fund's holdings, while about a third of its assets were tied up in plain old hardware and software giants such as Intel, Microsoft and Compaq Computer.
Naturally, since mutual funds don't need to disclose all their day-to-day dealings, it's likely that many are trading in some of the more speculative issues. But the Internet stock runup has been too frantic, analysts say, to be solely the work of institutional trading.
''There can't be that many sophisticated traders out there. Even sophisticated traders are avoiding this group because it's a very irrational thing that's going on,'' said Ricky Harrington, technical analyst at Interstate/Johnson Lane in Charlotte, N.C.
''The way Internet stocks are trading is extremely risky even for most sophisticated trader and dynamite for those who are not,'' said Harrington, asserting that investors can't possibly expect to catch every winning stock or sector.
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>>By Jason Hopps
TORONTO, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Canada's largest book retailer, Chapters Inc. <CHP.TO>, plans to turn a new leaf in the booming Internet retail business by adding a music catalogue to its fledgling online bookstore.
The chain reported surging revenue from its 52 superstores on Tuesday and said its online book-selling business had shown promising early results.
"We are pleased with online sales over the holiday season and adding music is a logical extension and is something we're definitely looking at," said Tamara Lawson, Chapters' chief financial officer.
"Our focus is on book sales, but it makes sense to look at other options, including music sales, given the fact we have CD sales in our bookstores," she added.
Chapters, which recently added a tenth music department to its chain of book superstores, reported a jump in its third-quarter revenue for all operations to C$210.6 million from C$176.9 million for the same period last year.
For the first nine months of fiscal 1999, total revenues climbed to C$432.2 million from C$350.8 million. Its book superstores had almost C$105 million in revenue for the quarter compared with C$63 million in the year-before period.
The book and music retailer, which operates 327 stores across Canada under various banners including Chapters, Coles, and SmithBooks, will release its third-quarter results on January 29.
Chapters launched its online outlet (http://ChaptersGlobe.com) on October 20 ahead of the Christmas shopping season, which has proved highly lucrative for U.S.-based Internet retailers.
Amazon.Com Inc. <AMZN.O> (http://www.amazon.com) sold $250 million in books, videos, music CDs and gifts from October to December, more than triple the company's fourth-quarter sales last year.
"We always thought we'd get into Internet retail, but what surprised us was how quickly it was growing," said Lawson.
Chapters said "other revenues" -- which includes its Internet business -- increased to C$10.6 million for the quarter from C$7.3 million last year. The company said it was too early to provide a detailed breakdown of its online business, which it said has a more Canadian focus than its larger U.S. counterparts.
"Once we have a couple of quarters behind us, we will provide more information on Internet revenues," said Lawson.
"We've only had only partial quarter so far and it's still very early going," she said.
Chapters stock was trading at C$29 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday, up C$0.65 in slim volume.
($1 = $1.52 Canadian)
19:55 01-12-99
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PALM BEACH, Fla., Jan 12 (Reuters) - Safe Technologies International Inc. said Tuesday its wholly owned subsidiary, Internet Commerce Inc., has entered into a business relationship with Amazon.com Inc. <AMZN.O>.
Cybermall's Castle Store, which contains upscale and luxury items, will be working with Amazon.com as its exclusive supplier for books, CDs and videos.
Online retailer Amazon.Com will be housed in the Library part of the Castle Store for users to find titles selected by Cybermall.
19:13 01-12-99
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks fell sharply Tuesday as investors, cautious in advance of big earnings reports, collected some of the profits they've earned in the new year's bull market.
The technology sector that has soared recently was hardest hit. At the close of trading on Wall Street, the technology-heavy Nasdaq index was sharply down 63.84 at 2,320.75, while the Dow Jones industrial average was down 145.21 at 9,474.68.
''After the enormous run we've had, with the frenetic movement in some of thes technology and Internet stocks, I consider this 99.999 percent profit-taking,'' said Charles Pradilla, chief investment strategist at Cowen & Co.
''It's a very normal pullback,'' he added. ''A lot of portfolio managers think maybe the market is ahead of itself.''
Investors decided to take profits on many of those stocks that have been flying high in 1999. Among the biggest losers were Amazon.com, which fell 21 1/4 to 163 3/8, and Lycos, down 26 1/2 at 104 1/2.
''These stocks have had such a tremendous run that investors are taking the chance to reassess,'' said Ronald Hill, a partner with Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.
During the day, Yahoo! and Intel were weighed down by concerns that their fourth-quarter earnings expectations had been too high. Yahoo! fell 19 15/16 to 395 11/16. Intel was down 4 3/16 at 135 9/16.
But after the close of trading, both companies reported profits that beat analyst forecasts. Intel reported an 18 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit, boosted by sales of microprocessors used in high-end personal computers, while Yahoo! reported fourth-quarter revenues had tripled from a year earlier.
Blue chips lost ground for a second day. The Dow, which had gained 5 percent last week, dropped 23.43 on Monday. On Tuesday, Alcoa was down 2 15/16 at 85 1/4 after it was downgraded by Morgan Stanley.
Some traders believed that investors were concerned about the dollar, which reached a 28-month low against the yen on Monday but rallied Tuesday on reports of Bank of Japan intervention. A strong dollar has helped to keep inflation stable in the United States.
Broad-market indexes were down. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 24.37 to 1,239.51. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 12-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 2,186 up, 892 down and 470 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 789.44 million shares as of 4 p.m., vs. 810.69 million in the previous session.
The NYSE composite index fell 9.45 to 594.59, and the American Stock Exchange composite index fell 7.67 to 699.65.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 5.78 to 427.35.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average was down 0.06 percent. Germany's DAX index fell 1.34 percent, Britain's FT-SE 100 was down 0.84 percent, and France's CAC-40 was down 2.41 percent.
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NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq composite took a drubbing Tuesday as frothy Internet and high-technology shares were sold-off, ending a seven-day string of record setting closes for the tech-laden index.
The Nasdaq composite index closed with a loss of 63.77 points, or 2.68 percent, at 2320.75 on volume of 1.1 billion shares. Market breadth was negative with three stocks declining for every two stocks advancing. But 147 stocks hit new 52-week highs while 31 reached new lows.
"When they started to fall apart after yesterday's insane run-up, it just snowballed," said Bill Meehan, chief market analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Intel Corp. <INTC.O>, the world's largest computer chip maker, reported after the close better than expected fourth quarter earnings per share of $1.19 compared with the First Call estimate of $1.07. The stock closed down 4-3/16 at 135-9/16.
Yahoo! Inc.<YHOO.O> the Internet media company, which fell 12-1/2 at 402, reported proforma fourth quarter net income of $0.21 a share, compared with the First Call estimate of $0.16.
Yahoo! also announced a two-for-one stock split.
Amazon.com Inc. <AMZN.O>, the online book, music and video retailer, fell 21-1/4 at 163-3/8.
17:09 01-12-99
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Santa Clara, California, Jan. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Yahoo! Inc. shares rose as much as 10 percent amid expectations the No. 1 Internet directory today will report higher-than-expected fourth- quarter earnings and unveil a stock split.
In trading after the close of U.S. markets yesterday, the stock gained as much as 40 1/2 to 455. Yahoo shares are at 438 1/2 in early trading and have gained about 75 percent in 1999.
Yahoo's earnings are expected to rise to 16 cents a share from a split-adjusted 3 cents in the year-ago period, according to the average estimate of analysts polled by First Call Corp. Yahoo, the second-biggest gainer in the Nasdaq 100 last year after Amazon.com Inc., is benefiting from an aggressive marketing campaign, analysts said.
''It's close to certain that they'll beat (expectations) on earnings and revenue,'' said Ryan Jacob, portfolio manager of the Internet Fund. He expects the company to earn 20 cents a share and have revenue of more than $70 million. ''I think they'll announce a split when they announce earnings tonight.''
Internet companies, such as online bookseller Amazon.com and Internet search directory Inktomi Corp., have announced share splits recently.
09:34:29 01/12/1999<<
>>COSTA MESA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 12, 1999--GTC Telecom (OTCBB: GTCC) Tuesday announced that it has begun implementing plans to create the first Web site dedicated to the online sale of calling cards.
Like Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), GTC Telecom will cut out the high cost middleman and sell direct to the customer. The Web site www.Ecallingcards.com will be launched Feb. 15, 1999 and will enable GTC Telecom to offer calling cards at a rate that is 40-50 percent below the current retail pricing scale and still earn approximately 30 percent gross profit.
GTC Telecom is a long distance carrier and offers a 7.9 cents per minute long distance rate in selected states. The company has already successfully implemented an international calling card program through retail channels for international markets. Through its agreements with companies such as MCI/Worldcomm (Nasdaq: WCOM), GTC Telecom has been able to increase its customer base by being able to offer very low rate plans.
According to Mark Fleming, formerly of MCI Worldcomm and current executive vice president of GTC Telecom, "The amount of administrative cost and overhead for GTC Telecom to provide this service is minimal. We are similar to other online retailers such as Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), Shopping.com (OTCBB: IBUY), IMALL (Nasdaq: IMAL) and Skymall (Nasdaq: SKYM), but we have the added benefit of having no product or inventory to order or ship."
Fleming continued, "In addition we have no backlog, discontinued product to return or damaged merchandise to deal with. Simply, if you were a customer you would enter our Web site, order a card, we will ask you how many minutes of long distance time you desire. We then charge your credit card or your phone bill if we are your long distance carrier and we issue you an 800 number and a pin number good for the minutes purchased. One of the greatest features of this program is that as soon as we have your credit card number your card is usable. There is no down time, in which the customer has to wait for the card to be shipped, etc. Our service is instantaneous."
Eric Clemons, GTC Telecom's chief operating officer stated, "The calling card market is estimated at $10 billion annually. Our plan in the long distance calling card market is much like Amazon.com whose industry is well over $13 billion. Since we have a sophisticated, low cost telecommunications infrastructure in place, it was a very strategic move for GTC Telecom to come out with long distance calling cards over the Internet. It was a logical leap for us to enter into this market because of our already low rates and our strong, inexpensive network. Being the first to market and being able to profitably offer a calling card 40-50 percent below current retail averages should catapult our emergence into the Internet market."
Clemons continued, "Initially, GTC Telecom was looking for more products and services to add to our already low cost packages. We want to offer our customers as many options as possible. We discovered that by offering calling cards over the Internet, we can considerably lower the cost to our end user."
Founded in 1997, GTC Telecom is an interexchange carrier, providing long distance service to small and medium sized businesses as well as residential customers throughout the United States. Currently, GTC believes that they have the lowest long distance rates nationwide. GTC's long distance service offerings include outbound service, inbound toll-free 800 service, and dedicated private line services for data.
GTC's position as an interexchange carrier gives the company the ability to function as a large telecom company but alleviates the overhead, thus allowing GTC to have rates lower than many of their competitors. Visit GTC's Web site at www.gtctelecom.com
Included in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements will prove to have been correct. The company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors including sales levels, distribution and competition trends and other market factors.
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SINGAPORE, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The Internet will destroy more businesses than it creates and media giant News Corp Ltd will not rush to buy into the increasingly expensive sector, Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said on Tuesday.
"The Internet will destroy more businesses than it will create in the sense that it will wipe out the middlemen," Murdoch said in a question and answer session after a speech to a broadcast industry group in Singapore.
"We will all have to adapt and learn to live with it and use it too," he said. "We have to find out by experiment how to use it and extend it."
He added that the potential of the Internet was huge and posed great challenges to traditional media businesses, but denied his own firm lagged in the race to log on.
"I don't think other media companies are doing anything much more than we are. We don't see any need to hurry this. The big stars of the Internet like AOL <AOL.N> (America Online Inc), or Amazon.com <AMZN.O> or Yahoo! <YHOO.O> were not the creation of old media companies at all," Murdoch said.
He said News Corp's Internet investments had so far been small and would continue to be selective, despite the surge in interest -- and market capitalisation -- of Web stocks.
There has been a sweeping upturn in the fortunes of stock in almost any company linked to the Internet business in recent months, even those some analysts fear are vulnerable to problems of poor management and weak business planning.
The media magnate said he was sceptical of the valuations of the stocks -- some of which have been trading at 200 times earnings -- and their ability to deliver the profits.
"We certainly won't be making takeovers of large, or already overcapitalised companies," Murdoch said.
And he said he was confident the traditional media of newspapers, television and cinema -- all of which News Corp has substantial interests in -- would withstand the competition.
"The proliferation of new media is not the death knell of the old," he said, pointing to newspapers which were expected to die after the creation of film, and of television which was predicted to pull the plug on radio.
"It hasn't worked out that way. All these industries are doing quite well," Murdoch said, adding that he was interested in investments in radio, particularly start-up stations.
He denied News Corp was close to concluding any big deals and said talk it was near finalising taking a stake -- reported to be worth up to US$250 million -- in German media group Kirch was premature.
The U.S.-Australian tycoon said he was concentrating on developing his European business, where there was substantial opportunity to grow the pay-television market.
Expanding News Corp's sports rights tie-ups -- a topic of controversy in Britain and the United States -- was also a key objective.
Murdoch said the group had no specific acquisition plans in Asia, but he was optimistic of the firm's future in the region despite the collapse of News Corp unit Star TV's joint venture satellite television operation in Indonesia.
"We currently see still just as much promise and opportunity in Asia as we ever have." he said. "We're very happy currently with the progress of Star TV," he added.
Murdoch said hard news programming was not at risk on News Corp's Chinese television operations.
"Entertainment and sport is what it takes to get into the homes and minds and we'll certainly seek to take that opportunity to follow up with hard news," he said. "We will certainly provide news in China. We're doing it now."
03:54 01-12-99
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Now is that enough in one day to keep this volatility?
Volatility! It's a hedged day traders dream.
Trust me on that.
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