Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LLCF who wrote (174812)	6/24/2002 4:05:38 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

A guiding light for millions caught in glare of controversy By Neil Buckley in New York Published: June 21 2002 22:38 \| Last Updated: June 21 2002 22:38 She has long been a North American phenomenon. But Martha Stewart is starting to gain international notoriety - even if, right now, it is for the wrong reasons. Ms Stewart is a cult figure in the US. Her "how to" guides to arranging pansies and baking brownies, hosting dinner parties and bringing up baby - delivered through her own TV programmes, magazines and newspaper columns - have made her a guiding light for millions of Americans. They have also made her rich. Her stake in her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, is worth about half a billion dollars. But her friendship with Samuel Waksal, the immunologist turned biotechnology entrepreneur recently charged with insider trading, has threatened the "diva of domesticity" with scandal. Ms Stewart sold 3,928 shares in Mr Waksal's company, ImClone, on December 27 last year - the day before US regulators rejected its application to approve Erbitux, the cancer drug on which ImClone's hopes of future riches were riding. The question is whether she did so, as she says, because of a weeks-old agreement with her broker to sell her stake if the share price dropped below $60, or because she had information on Erbitux's likely fate through her connections to Dr Waksal. In her first public appearance since the controversy erupted, Ms Stewart insisted this week her version was the truth. Stylishly clad in battleship grey, she told a New York investor conference her sale was "based on information available to the public that day". "These are the essential facts and I am confident that time will bear them out," she added. But doubt was cast on her version of events late on Friday after Merrill Lynch suspended Peter Bacanovic, the broker who handled both Ms Stewart's and Dr Waksal's accounts. It was understood Merrill had uncovered information that apparently contradicted Ms Stewart's version. That development could add to pressure on her company's shares when trading opens on Monday. Ms Stewart's positive message on her company's prospects this week had helped the shares regain some of the ground they had lost since the ImClone controversy erupted. But they still ended the week at $16, well below their $18 flotation price two years ago. Then, investors were euphoric over prospects for her company's four business arms - publishing, including magazines such as the 2.4m selling Martha Stewart Living, books, radio, newspapers and music; television, including a daily one-hour network show and several cable shows; merchandising of Martha Stewart-branded products; and internet and catalogue retailing. The ImClone affair, however, concludes a tough year. The company, which had $296m sales in 2001, issued its first ever profits warning last August as the advertising downturn bit. Kmart, the discount chain with the exclusive contract to sell Martha Stewart products in the US, filed for bankruptcy protection in January. And an unauthorised biography, Martha Inc, exposed the harder-than-nails businesswoman behind her perfect hostess image. The ImClone controversy has prompted several downgrades of Martha Stewart Living stock, amid concerns about its impact on her one-person brand. Merrill Lynch cut its intermediate-term rating from buy to neutral until the situation became clearer. "As Ms Stewart is the chief executive officer, the ongoing scrutiny may cause distraction at the very top of the company. [The company] is also closely associated with Ms Stewart's image as a personality," said Merrill Lynch analyst Karl Choi. If the Congressional energy and commerce committee investigating ImClone accepts Ms Stewart's explanations, most analysts and branding experts believe her business will emerge unscathed. Ironically, the affair has diverted attention from an improving picture at Martha Stewart Living. The company raised second-quarter earnings guidance this week amid signs of an advertising recovery. Kmart's problems have also had a muted impact, with Ms Stewart's revenues protected by minimum payment clauses in the contract. If the ImClone situation were to worsen for Ms Stewart, analysts say that could hurt a brand which relies so much on her wholesome persona. Even then, they believe, the company would ultimately bounce back. "Temporarily I think it would be a pretty big hit. It would negatively impact some of their growth prospects," says Jeffrey Klinefelter, analyst at US Bancorp Piper Jaffray. "But does it mean lights out, game over? I don't think so. There are a lot of people who buy her products, and they buy them because they like them - not because they saw her on TV." news.ft.com

To: LLCF who wrote (174812)	6/24/2002 4:11:44 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Japan moves to stem dollar slide news.bbc.co.uk The Japanese currency is close to seven-month lows Japan's central bank has intervened to push down the yen against the dollar, fearful of the effect of a strong currency on the country's exporters. Strong buying of dollars by the Bank of Japan helped boost the US currency as high as 122.80 yen, up from the the 121.11 it hit earlier in the day. The dollar's low for the year so far has been 120.80, but policy makers around the world have been alarmed at its rapid slide in recent weeks. Weak US shares, combined with discouraging economic statistics, have persuaded many investors to move their money out of the US. In Japan, highly dependent on exports of electronics and other products, the strong yen has caused concern among politicians and business leaders. Earlier in the day, the strong yen had put further pressure on Japanese shares. Car giant Honda, one of the country's main exporters and a major player in the US market, saw its shares drop almost 4% to a seven-month low. Other firms with heavy involvement in the US, including Toyota, Sony and Fuji, also dropped sharply. Coming just before the close of the day's trading, the announcement of central bank yen intervention helped buoy Tokyo share prices. The benchmark Nikkei share index closed up 1.1% at 10,471.32, after touching a four-month low of 10,169.07 in the morning session. All together now? Few expect Bank of Japan intervention to have a lasting effect, however. In the meantime, there is growing pressure on world leaders for concerted efforts to prop up the dollar, which has also touched lows against the euro, pound and Swiss franc. The G8 summit of rich countries, currently under way in Canada, could be a venue for such joint intervention, as it has in the past. But the political will for concerted intervention may not be universal: the US is not absolutely in favour of a strong dollar, and Europe has enjoyed the recent unaccustomed strength of the eu

To: LLCF who wrote (174812)	6/24/2002 4:21:55 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 436258

Gigantic airships aim to damp forest fires As firefighters struggled to defeat the wildfires sweeping across Colorado last week, plans were emerging for a new, more efficient way of fighting such fires from the air. LOSING BATTLE: planes can't carry enough water to put out the fire quickly (Photo: Katz/FSP) Drop-planes and helicopters with their small water bombs can only cover small areas at each pass because their water supply is limited. They also have to fly dangerously low to have any effect at all, as water dropped from high altitude evaporates before it can get to the flames. Now Ralph Pope and his team at Wetzone Engineering, a company based in Huntingdon Beach, California, think they have a better idea. Water will rain down continuously from gigantic airships, which will be kept topped up by passing drop-planes or helicopters. "It'll be like having a non-stop artificial rainstorm," says Pope. They suggest using 300-metre-long propeller-powered airships carrying just under one million litres of water and flying high above the flames. From there, adjustable valves on the underside of the balloon--much like large shower heads--will pump out a staggering 200,000 litres an hour over a large area of the fire. They could also have a few water cannon that can be directed over particularly persistent hot spots. Currently, the largest drop-planes used in Colorado are converted Hercules military transporters that can carry up to 13,000 litres on a single trip, says Ron Meyer, firefighting aviation manager for Colorado's Rocky Mountain area. Helicopters can only carry up to 600 litres. But they could still be used to replenish the airship's water supply via an enormous catch basin on the top. Wind worries With a million litres of water in its tank, you would expect it to take some lifting to get the airship off the ground. But Thomas Gagliano, chief scientist of Wetzone, says one cubic metre of helium can lift over a kilogram of payload. Which means that roughly a million cubic metres of helium is needed to lift a million litres of water. As vast as this might seem, heavy lifting airship companies such as SkyCat already have craft capable of lifting such loads. . Meyer is intrigued by Wetzone's idea but warns that wind might be a problem for airships. "These fires can be so big they create their own weather," he explains. "We routinely shut down aircraft operations because of wind and turbulence from fires." Gagliano says their airships would get round these conditions by moving to higher altitudes, typically 1200 metres. "At higher elevations we will change the density of the rain," he says, ensuring that the water droplets from the "shower head" are large enough to be effective by the time they reach the fire. Wetzone has another trick up its sleeve. "After the fire is out, we then have a device that will reseed the forest with millions of seedlings," says Pope. He envisages the crew dropping pouches of soil and fertiliser from the airship then using the elaborate firefighting equipment to water them. "When released from that altitude they penetrate the ground and [roots] sprout out." But it will be at least three years before these airships are out fighting fires, says Gagliano. They are working on prototypes but the economics of running airship fleets are challenging to say the least. But the losses incurred in wildfires are pretty challenging, too. Every year, says Gagliano, the annual bill in the US for wildfire losses is around $2 billion. And that figure does not include the cost of fighting the fires themselves. newscientist.com