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Strategies & Market Trends : VOLTAIRE'S PORCH-MODERATED -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RR who wrote (39795)	8/6/2001 1:43:39 AM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

Glad to have you back RR. I hope the RR clan had a great time & everyone is relaxed & refreshed. We missed you here buddy. Hopefully you will get a chance to tell us about some of the neato things from your vacation when you get settled in. I agree that the NAZ will trend down some this week too. If we get more up early in the week, I'll be eyeing some short positions. In addition to the QQQ's, I might look at EXTR, AMAT & MU. Tim

To: RR who wrote (39795)	8/6/2001 12:03:33 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 65232

IPO Lawsuits Target Tech Companies, Underwriters Saturday August 4 9:52 AM ET By Lisa Baertlein <<LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Blue Martini Software Inc. (Nasdaq:BLUE - news) and Internet consulting firm Lante Corp. (Nasdaq:LNTE - news) on Friday were targeted in separate lawsuits alleging they failed to tell investors vital information related to their initial public offerings (IPOs). The suits are the latest in a wave of legal actions alleging that companies -- and, in many cases, their underwriters as well -- violated federal securities laws by issuing and selling stock without disclosing that some of the underwriters involved in the deals had solicited and received undisclosed commissions from certain investors. Those investors were allegedly given the green-light to buy company shares at IPO prices after they had agreed to make additional stock purchases at progressively higher prices -- a practice known as ``laddering.'' The plaintiffs alleged that laddering was used to drive the stock prices to artificially high levels, which enabled the underwriters and their clients to profit by selling out at the inflated prices. Blue Martini and Lante could not be immediately reached for comment. Attorney Marc Henzel of Philadelphia, who brought both class action suits in federal court in New York on Friday, was also unavailable. Shares in Blue Martini were offered at $20 in their IPO on July 24, 2000, and rose as high as $57-3/8 on the first day of trading on Nasdaq. The stock hit a high of $77.63 on Aug. 9 last year but has lost 98 percent of its value since then. They closed on Friday at $1.56 on the Nasdaq exchange. UNDERWRITERS TARGETED Lante saw a similar sharp gain in its first day of trade on February 11 2000. After having been offered at $20, shares rose to a closing price that day of $54.94 and hit a high that month of $87.50. On Friday, they closed at 99 cents on Nasdaq. Perot Systems Corp. (NYSE:PER - news), TiVo (news - web sites) Inc. (Nasdaq:TIVO - news), FreeMarkets Inc. (Nasdaq:FMKT - news), TIBCO Software Inc. (Nasdaq:TIBX - news), Viant Corp. (Nasdaq:VIAN - news), Akamai Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:AKAM - news) and the now-bankrupt Webvan Group Inc. (Nasdaq:WBVN - news) are among the companies that have been hit with similar allegations. Some of the underwriters named in those suits include Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS - news), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MWD - news), Salomon Smith Barney and Credit Suisse First Boston. Investors -- who have seen their technology holdings fall sharply in value over the past year -- also have been targeting analysts with allegations they issued misleading research reports, which supported companies that hired their firms for lucrative investment banking work and other business. Earlier this month, Merrill Lynch and Co. (NYSE:MER - news) paid $400,000 to settle allegations that excessively bullish research from its top Internet analysts, Henry Blodget, caused a New York pediatrician to lose $500,000 earmarked for his daughter's college tuition. Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker -- who was once dubbed ''Queen of the Internet'' for her bullish calls on eBay Inc. (Nasdaq:EBAY - news) and Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq:AMZN - news) -- is among the other analysts now being targeted by investors and their attorneys. Meeker was named as a defendant in a pair of lawsuits filed earlier this week, claiming that she crossed over the ``Chinese Wall'' supposed to separate a Wall Street firm's analysts from its investment banking activities.>> _________________________ RR: It's great to have you back...it sounds like you and your family really enjoyed the vacation time...=)