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INVESTING: Weak markets could lead to a nasty surprise

If you open an account at a brokerage firm and deposit $100, you can sign a margin agreement and borrow enough money from that broker to buy $200 worth of stock. For years, market watchers analyzed the margin interest on the New York Stock Exchange-which measures how much stock people are buying using margin-as a reliable indicator of overbought or oversold conditions. Things have changed today, though, and that could have a serious effect on your portfolio. NYSE margin information…

State looking for suggestions for prime downtown land: Request for proposals signals possible sale of parcel near IUPUI, Central Canal

Indiana is turning to developers to help brainstorm on what type of development might fit a prime real estate parcel two blocks from the Statehouse. The state owns the three-quarters-ofan-acre site at the intersection of Vermont Street and Indiana Avenue. State officials have determined they can do without the space, which is currently used for state employee parking. The official request for ideas, posted June 7, asks for proposals that might “present the state with the opportunity to realize revenue…

Women MD numbers soar: Title IX passage in 1970 credited with spurring educational opportunities

When Colleen Brown graduated from the Indiana University School of Medicine in May, she was part of a class making history. For the first time, the medical school was graduating more women physicians than men-131 and 128, respectively. Since 1970, there has been a 10-fold increase in the number of women physicians, according to a February 2006 study by the American Medical Association. In 1970, only 25,404 women graduated in the United States in all medical specialties. By 2004, the…

IUPUI again running in the fast lane: Track facility emerges nationally after long absence

For its first 15 years after opening in 1982, the Michael A. Carroll Track & Field Stadium on the IUPUI campus hosted a major national or international trackand-field event almost annually. For the last decade, it’s been primarily relegated to charity events and local grade-school championships. But with the first high-profile competition at the track since 1997 scheduled for this month, the venue is poised for rebirth. From June 21-25, it will host the U.S. National Championships-an event organizers hope…

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Increased export scrutiny requires corporate-wide plan

While federal laws restricting exports of goods and technology have been in existence since the 1940s, companies and individuals have increasingly faced civil and criminal penalties that include millions of dollars in fines, prohibition from future exporting and even prison terms. flagged and identified on the denied party list? Simply put, is the end user of the product or technology identified by the U.S. government as one banned from receiving such technologies? Customer service representatives need to know whether the…

Distributor hits 2nd century in growth mode: Indiana Oxygen uses Ohio outlet, Internet to expand

The Indiana Oxygen Co. building is highly visible to motorists traveling Interstate 465 on the northwest side, but the company’s forte isn’t as widely known. Founded in 1915, Indiana Oxygen is the oldest gas and welding supplier in the United States. But to the surprise of many, the medical relationship the name implies hardly exists. Despite the confusion, the company’s flame burns bright, as annual revenue this year will top $30 million. Part of Indiana Oxygen’s recent growth stems from…

BULLS & BEARS: Big investors have clout to drive stock prices up

I have said before in this space that in the long run the only thing that propels a stock’s price is earnings. As Ben Graham said: In the long run, the stock market is a weighing machine, but in the short run, it’s a voting machine. He meant that, over a period of years, a company’s stock is valued-or weighed-quite efficiently, but between now and Labor Day the value is subject to the whims of fickle traders who vote with…

Golf club member tees off investors: Lawsuit over $7.4M in losses casts light on little-regulated world of penny-stock promotion

By the time he graduated in 1985, Tony Altavilla ranked third in career touchdown receptions at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, an all-male institution that likens itself to the best conservative liberal arts colleges of New England. His star rose again recently, when the member of Carmel’s Crooked Stick Country Club led a committee that helped the Pete Dye-designed course score the 2009 U.S. Senior Open Championship. But the Wabash man and golfing buddy of the affluent now finds himself in…

Health network leaders pursue big dreams: Advocates: Statewide system for transmitting patient records would improve care

Technology experts, doctors and politicians this week will discuss the possibility of interconnecting the handful of computer networks in Indiana that allow doctors to exchange patient information. They say a network reaching every corner of the state could save money, boost care and reduce medical errors while keeping Indiana at the front of the national pack for this technology. However, none of the health-information network leaders who will convene for a summit this week in Indianapolis expects the network to…

Geographic restrictions could backfire for PERF: $105 million fund carries lots of potential, risks

By restricting the new $105 million Indiana Investment Fund I to deals within state lines, Gov. Mitch Daniels hopes to simultaneously spur economic development and earn a spectacular return for Indiana’s retired public employees. But venture-capital experts warn it’s nearly impossible to have it both ways. “You need to be very, very clear what your objectives are when you invest [pension] money. Is it for economic development or to help the pensioners earn better pensions?” said John Taylor, vice president…

RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: How much freedom is enough? Or too much?

Jams Surowiecki (en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/The_Wisdom_ of_Crowds) would like you to look deeply into your business soul and choose between chaos and high walls. For that matter, so would I. It’s a decision worth thinking about. The right choice could remake your enterprise. The wrong one could, too. Surowiecki is just one of several thinkers pondering whether organizations do better with top-down plans, processes and hierarchies, or with loose controls and chaotic creativity. His book, “The Wisdom of Crowds,” maintains that large…

SPORTS: City’s full-court press pays off with tourney victory

Before the press conference announcing the Big Ten’s decision about the future of its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, I pleaded-to no avail-with Conseco Fieldhouse Executive Director Rick Fuson to post a score on the fieldhouse board. Indy 5, Windy 0. He was right in refusing to play along. It’s always good to take the high road. No sense rubbing Chicago’s nose in the news that the Big Ten had awarded the tournaments to our burg for five successive years…

EYE ON THE PIE: What if we moved the elderly out of state?

“Don’t write about this,” Sid Simpleton told me. He is the state’s social policy director. “People who have recently experienced the loss of a loved one do not like death discussed without appropriate gravity.” “I’ll warn them not to read the column if they have recently had such a loss,” I said. Sipping gin and tonics on a warm spring afternoon does make the troubles of the world seem less serious. “OK, if you think it’s safe,” Sid said. “This…

Local firm snags major deal from Wall Street: City Securities leads $390 million airport bond issue

Indianapolis-based City Securities Corp. is leading a $390 million bond issue for the Indianapolis International Airport expansion. To snag the deal, it overcame a host of far larger competitors on Wall Street. To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of local investment banking are greatly exaggerated. It’s the second-largest bond deal in City Securities’ 82-year history, surpassed only by the city’s 2002 purchase of Indianapolis Water Co. for $580 million. City Securities also led the water deal. “We’ve done…

Firm finds direct approach pays off: Marketing Informatics, part of hot industry, sees revenue rise by $28 million in 3 years

Bob Massie came to Indianapolis in 1985 to preach the Word of God. Twenty-one years later, he’s spreading the messages of Indiana businesses, not from a pulpit, but through direct-mail advertising. Massie is shepherding a fastgrowing flock of clients. His company’s revenue has grown from $1.86 million in 2003 to a projected $30 million this year. The growth of Massie’s firm, Marketing Informatics, reflects the growth of the industry. Directmail advertising is growing more than 15 percent annually, according to…

Mass Ave condos in the works: High-end, 10-story project in trendy cultural district has 46 units, retail space

Log one more entry into the crowded field of downtown condo projects. But developers of a 10-story development at Massachusetts Avenue and New York Street think its location and amenities will reel in high-end buyers. The condos, dubbed Three Mass Ave, will be developed by a three-way partnership of Halakar Properties Inc., Pillar Investments LLC and architect Wayne Schmidt. “We want to make sure that this is a classy building that fits in with the historic nature of Mass Ave…

“No habla ingles”: Immigrants who want to advance find many programs to help them learn English

No habla inglesImmigrants who want to advance find many programs to help them learn English Osvaldo Escobedo was hungry to learn English. It was bad enough when he couldn’t advance at the Nissan Motor Co. plant in Aguascalientes, in central Mexico, because he couldn’t converse in the business language of English. Later, when he came to the United States, he couldn’t eat much more than what he could pronounce. “When I go to restaurant, I ask [for] ‘coffee and doughnuts….

Florida company bolsters presence here with Dial One: Heating, cooling and plumbing contractor expects to see staff grow thanks to new ownership

Dial One added a new owner, a fresh look and a third word to its name when a Florida company bought the venerable Indianapolis heating, cooling and plumbing contractor late last month. Sarasota-based Clockwork Home Services Inc. also plans to add 30 field technicians and about 10 office employees over the next three years to the newly renamed Dial One Hour, which has roots in Indianapolis dating back to 1908. Now, Dial One Hour employs 189. “We have no plans…

PROFILE DAVE BROWN: Passion for history, people drives manager’s hobby

Instead, Brown transforms himself from a 21st century theater director for the IMAX 3D Theater at White River State Park into a 19th century Civil War soldier as a re-enactor with Indianapolis-based Mid States Living History Association Inc. Brown’s interest in the past began as a child. He was fascinated with older people in his small town of Hagerstown, Ind. “I would sit at the old soda fountain in the drugstore and talk to old folks about their lives and…

ABDUL-HAKIM SHABAZZ Commentary: When all else fails, yell ‘racism!’

I was playing eight-ball one night with a black guy who tried to convince me it was a racist game. He said it was racist because the object was for the white ball to knock the colored balls off the table, and the last one to go in was the black ball. However, when I told him everything evened out in bowling because a black ball knocked over a bunch of white pins with red necks, he shut up. I…