Boots and bats: LL Bean footwear honors champ Sox

FREEPORT, Maine — L.L. Bean is painting its Bootmobile red in honor of the Red Sox' World Series championship and providing custom-made red hunting boots to each member of the team and staff.

The company will unveil the red Bootmobile during the duck boat parade Saturday to celebrate the Red Sox' achievement.

Chief Operating Officer Steve Fuller says Bean wants to thanks the Red Sox for the World Series win, "as well as all of the years of enjoyment they have given to the fans of New England and beyond."

Bean and the Sox go way back.

Both Fenway Park and L.L. Bean celebrated their 100th anniversaries last year, and Bean made Totes and boots from the Fenway tarp that was pulled over the field during rain delays.

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Ariad shares dive as drug sale halted

Ariad Pharmaceuticals' stock plunged yesterday on news that the Cambridge company was suspending sales of its leukemia drug Iclusig because of concerns that patients taking it could suffer life-threatening blood clots.

Shares dropped more than 44 percent to $2.20 on the Nasdaq stock exchange after federal regulators asked it to stop marketing the drug. Ariad first disclosed a higher rate of side effects related to blood clots Oct. 9.

"The company's actions have been taken in response to a request from the Food and Drug Administration yesterday afternoon," Ariad said in a statement. "Ariad believes that Iclusig is an important medicine for patients with resistant or intolerant Philadelphia-positive leukemias and is actively working with the FDA on actions to achieve the resumption of marketing Iclusig."

The FDA said nearly half of patients treated with the drug, also known as ponatinib, in an early-stage trial and nearly one in four patients in a mid-stage trial have experienced serious side effects, including "fatal and life-threatening heart attack, stroke, loss of blood flow to the extremities resulting in tissue death, and severe narrowing of blood vessels in the extremities, heart and brain requiring urgent surgical procedures to restore blood flow."

"At this time, FDA cannot identify a dose level or exposure duration that is safe," the agency said.

An Ariad spokesman declined to make chief executive Harvey J. Berger available for an interview.

In December 2012 — a year in which Ariad's stock nearly doubled in value as the drug moved toward approval — the FDA gave the company the OK three months ahead of schedule to sell Iclusig in the United States to allow patients access to what seemed a promising new treatment while additional studies were being conducted.

But in a note to investors yesterday, Citi Research analysts Jonathan Eckard, Yaron Werber and Joel Beatty said they saw a "tough road" ahead for Ariad and a "very limited future for Iclusig at best."

"While little clarity on the timing of reintroduction of the drug is available, we see the process taking at least several months," the analysts said, "and the ultimate outcome will be a highly restricted label and commercial opportunity."

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Obama pitches the US to foreign investors

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is casting himself as America's business pitchman.

Facing a sluggish economy, Obama on Thursday announced an expanded government role to draw foreign companies to the United States, arguing that the American workforce, cheaper energy costs and an improving economy make the U.S. an attractive home for investments.

"Officials at the highest levels, up to and including me, are going to do even more to make the case for investing in America," Obama told a summit of investors, business CEOs and state and local officials.

The administration's goal is to attract $1 trillion in new foreign investments in manufacturing or other business over the next five years.

The push comes as such investments in the U.S. have been slipping. The U.S. saw a peak in 2000 when those kinds of investments reached $321 billion, then after falling they rose to $310 billion in 2008. Last year the inflow was $166 billion, 28 percent lower than in 2011.

Obama said the goal is to make that outreach more efficient, making better use of the federal government to promote the U.S. overseas, a job that had previously been left primarily to states and cities, which had to compete against foreign countries to attract foreign investors.

Obama argued that the 3-year-old health care overhaul has slowed the growth of health costs, U.S. energy production has increased, and worker productivity is rising.

Increasing labor costs overseas, particularly in China, have also placed the United States in a better position to woo foreign investment.

Using a salesman's delivery, Obama told the SelectUSA 2013 Investment Summit: "So, to all the business leaders here today, and around the world, we want to be your partner in helping to write the next chapter in our history."

Obama singled out steps designed to improve the marketing of the United States:

—Attracting foreign investment will be a priority for U.S. ambassadors.

—Giving businesses a single point of contact within the federal government to cut through national, state and local red tape.

—Providing cities, states and regions with research and analysis to help them attract foreign investors.

Obama said some U.S. based firms are bringing back some of their foreign-based operations, singling out Ford Motor Co. and Caterpillar Inc. among them.

___

Follow Jim Kuhnhenn at http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn

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World Series rating up 17 percent over 2012

NEW YORK — The World Series television rating on Fox was up 17 percent over last year but was the lowest for a matchup that went at least six games.

Boston's 4-2 Series win over St. Louis averaged an 8.9 rating, 15 share and 14.9 million viewers, Nielsen Media Research said Thursday.

San Francisco's four-game sweep of Detroit last year averaged a record-low 7.6/12 and was seen by 12.7 million viewers. That was among only three Series that had lower ratings than this year's, joined by 8.4 ratings for Philadelphia's five-game win over Tampa Bay in 2008 and San Francisco's five-game victory over Texas in 2010.

Boston's 6-1 victory in Wednesday night's clincher received an 11.3/18 and was seen by 19.2 million viewers, baseball's highest rating since Game 7 of the 2011 World Series.

The game, which marked the first title won by the Red Sox at Fenway Park since 1918, drew a 55.2/75 in Boston, the highest MLB rating there since Game 4 of the 2007 World Series. The Boston rating peaked at a 59.5/84 from 11-11:30 p.m., which included the final out and the start of the postgame celebration.

"This baseball season has been a tremendous success across the board for FOX Sports, and 2014 can't get here soon enough," Fox Sports President Eric Shanks said in a statement. "Our postseason coverage saw a 26 percent jump year to year, while ratings for the All-Star game grew and several of our regional sports networks had record-setting seasons."

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FAA OKs electronic devices during takeoff

Passengers soon will be able to keep reading their ebooks and watching movies on planes during takeoffs and landings after the Federal Aviation Administration yesterday issued new guidelines for use of electronic devices.

"The FAA has determined that airlines can safely expand passenger use of Portable Electronic Devices," the FAA said.Passengers still won't be able to make phone calls or use the Internet over cellular networks while planes are under 10,000 feet, but for frequent fliers at Logan International Airport, the changes are long overdue.

"It makes more sense this way, Kindles don't even use up that much electricity," said Alex Magidow, 29, of Kingston, R.I. "It's great for some people who can't put down technology, but for me it's just nice to be able to read and listen to music in flight."

Dawn Belizaire, 35, of Boston, who has to travel often for work and to see family, said, "I always have to bring magazines, this is perfect and lovely."

JetBlue, the largest carrier out of Logan, said it has already applied for FAA approval. The actual implementation of the new rules will vary from airline to airline, because planes must be able to tolerate radio interference from devices.

The FAA based its decision on input from a group that included representatives from the airlines, aviation manufacturers, passengers, pilots, flight attendants and the mobile technology industry.

Amazon.com, which filled a plane with Kindles in 2011 and flew it around to test for problems, is among those who had been pushing to relax the restrictions.

"This is a big win for customers, and frankly, it's about time," said spokesman Drew Herdener.

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Obama calls in the geek squad

The Obama administration is turning to an emergency Silicon Valley geek squad to bail out its beleaguered Healthcare.gov website and fix the botched rollout of its signature health insurance program.

"They're under the gun time-wise to get this fixed," said Joshua Archambault, director of health care policy for the 
Pioneer Institute.

The Obama administration has brought in "dozens" of government and private workers, including from Google and Oracle, to troubleshoot the website that has been plagued by slow response times and outages as people try to enroll in the new health care plans that are part of Obamacare. Experts say the website has to be fixed within the next month if the administration hopes to sign up large numbers of people for health insurance before looming coverage deadlines hit.

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said the California company is pitching in because he wants to see the government running smoothly.

"As an information technology company we are doing everything we can to help," Ellison said.

Michael Dickerson, a site reliability engineer on leave from Google, and Greg Gershman, innovation director for smartphone app maker Mobomo, are among the experts that are being tapped, said Julie Bataille, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in a blog post.

"We've added key personnel from the government and private sector," she said.

Part of a "tech surge" promised by the administration nearly two weeks ago, Bataille said the goal is to increase the reliability and stability of Heathcare.gov.

"They are working through the analytics of what happens on the site to prioritize what needs to be fixed," she told reporters yesterday.

The problems with the health insurance exchange website have been blamed on the work of Montreal-based contractor CGI Group, inadequate time to test the system and out-of-date software used by insurance companies.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius apologized this week in testimony before Congress for the website's poor performance and said the agency will try to have it "optimally functioning" by the end of November.

Still, the damage may have been done by then, Archambault said.

"From a perception perspective, it's a very big unanswered question if they ruined the public trust in actually using the website or not," Archambault said.

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Here’s why homes don’t sell

If your house isn't selling, don't despair — try jazzing it up online.

Inventory in the Metro Boston region is down 
62 percent from a year ago while prices are up 9 percent, so there's hope. But buyers are first turning to real estate websites before they head out the door. That's where your attention should be, at least at first.

Let's look at the most common reasons why your home is still on the market:

PRICE: This is by far the top reason why properties languish. Remember, pricing properties isn't an exact science. Some agents will overprice listings during the initial bidding process in hopes of winning the listing. Others will over-price simply due to ignorance. Regardless, the market will dictate your price. If your home isn't getting showings by other real estate agents and you've had no offers within the first 14 days, particularly in a hot market, then the price should be adjusted.

PHOTOGRAPHY: I've said it before, first impressions are very important. The way your home is presented could be the difference between having market buzz or fizzling out. Prices vary, but typically $150 to $300 is enough to hire a professional photographer to set you up with a few good photos.

CLUTTER: Remember the wagon-wheel scene in the movie "When Harry Met Sally"? Get rid of those things that you've held onto for years. I've always gone by the belief that if you lost everything in a fire, what are the things you would truly miss? Then start with those items and work backward. Less is always more.

MARKETING: Is your real estate agent promoting your property in the best light? This includes weekly print advertising, sphere of influence mailings, mailings to neighbors of the listed property, links to all national websites including realtor.com, trulia.com, zillow.com and others. Does your agent promote properties via social media?

INSPECTIONAL ISSUES: Does your home have a number of issues to be fixed? A coat of new paint? A professional cleaning? Light bulbs that need replacing? While these are relatively easy fixes ranging in price to practically nothing to quite a bit, in the end they can make the difference between your home being a consideration vs. a "pass." If you really want to know what a home inspection will uncover, then hire an inspector of your own and have your property "pre-inspected." This might run you a few hundred dollars on the low end to $500 to $600 depending on the size of your home.

It's all worth the trouble if you really want to make the next move.

Charlie Abrahams is a licensed real estate agent in Boston who works with buyers and sellers and can be reached for any additional information at: Bostonrealestate@charlieabrahams.com.

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The New York Times loses $24.2M after sale of Globe

The New York Times reported a $24.2 million third-quarter loss yesterday, thanks in part to a costly write-down following the sale of The Boston Globe to Red Sox owner John Henry.

The Times announced a $34.3 million write-down related to the sale of the New England Media Group, which includes the Globe, Boston.com, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and related properties.

The Times is already on the hook for approximately $8 million in pension liabilities related to the Globe assets — which Henry bought for $70 million earlier this month. It's also battling a class-action lawsuit brought by former newspaper carriers at the Telegram who claim they were misclassified as independent contractors — a case where damages could reach up to $60 million.

Analysts dismissed the write-down as routine, reflecting the challenges of the newspaper industry, while Times' brass focused on the big picture.

"The third quarter of 2013 was a strong one for the company," said Times CEO Mark Thompson in a statement. "We increased our revenue, decreased our costs and, as a result, significantly increased our operating profit compared with the same quarter last year."

Henry, meanwhile, laid out his vision to make the Globe "a laboratory for major newspapers across the country" in an op-ed earlier this week.

"I think he said the right stuff," said Alan Mutter, a former newspaper editor and adjunct professor at the University of California at Berkeley. "But anybody can say anything."

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Asia stocks muted on prospect Fed to trim stimulus

MUMBAI, India — Asian stocks markets were muted Friday as investors continued to fret that the U.S. Federal Reserve bank will begin cutting its stimulus as soon as January.

Japan's Nikkei 225, the regional heavyweight, fell 1.2 percent to 14,155.81, weighed down by Sony Corp. stocks losing 12 percent after the electronics and entertainment giant reported a 19.3 billion yen ($196 million) quarterly loss.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.1 percent at 23,190.05 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.2 percent to 5,418.10. Markets in Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia also fell. Seoul's Kospi added 0.3 percent to 2,035.95.

India's Sensex index reached an all-time high of 21,234.35, up 0.3 percent, led by information technology, auto and pharmaceutical stocks.

Worries about future moves in U.S. monetary policy tamped down most Asian stock markets Friday. The Fed's announcement this week that it would maintain its $85 billion monthly bond purchasing scheme was widely expected.

But the bank's economic outlook was rosier than anticipated and could indicate that it will begin to reduce those purchases soon, which have been aimed at keeping interest rates low to support economic recovery. The U.S. central bank's cheap money policy has underpinned stock markets worldwide for several years

The Fed no longer expressed concern, as it did in September, that higher mortgage rates could hold back hiring and economic growth. And its statement made no reference to the 16-day government shutdown, which economists say slowed growth this quarter. Some analysts said that suggests reduction of the stimulus could begin early next year.

On Wall Street, The Dow lost 73.01 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 15,545.75. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 6.77 points, 0.4 percent, to 1,756.54.

The Nasdaq composite dropped 10.91 points, or 0.3 percent, to 3,919.71.

Benchmark U.S. crude for December delivery was down 2 cents at $96.36 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped 39 cents to close $96.38 on Thursday.

In currency trading, the euro was down at $1.3555 from $1.3586 late Thursday. The dollar fell to 97.92 yen from 98.31 yen.

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Pelosi calls Obamacare website woes ‘incidental’

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi today called the Obamacare website malfunctions "incidental" in the big picture and predicted that they would have no effect on the mid-term elections next year.

"The glitches technologically are incidental to the value of what the Affordable Care Act represents," she said. "We will get through them. The Affordable Care Act is a great thing for our country and I think it's going to work just fine ... We find the glitches unacceptable, we want to get over it, but it's not going to have any impact on the election."

Pelosi was in Cambridge this morning to stump for Katherine Clark, the Democrat running to fill a congressional seat left vacant by the election of U.S. Sen. Edward M. Markey. Clark, a state senator from Melrose, was defeated early in her political career by republican Richard Tisei, who is considering a run against Congressman John Tierney (D-Salem). Tisei narrowly lost an election to Tierney last November, after Tierney's wife served a federal jail sentence for helping her brother run an offshore gambling website.

Pelosi voiced support for Tierney next November.

"Tierney is a very strong and respected member of Congress," she said. "The president praised him the other day. He's a priority for us whether it comes to the issues that relate to education, health care, national security. He has been a champion."

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