Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Honolulu, Hawaii • 25

wu Star. A CLOSE LOOK The FDA ordered a review yesterday of all prevention studies involving drugs' such as Celebrex, Vioxx and Bextra. HOLIDAY Most financial markets around the world will be closed today to observe Christmas. INSIDE Stocks and mutual funds. C4-5 businessstarbulletin.com 5294792 i tg'j vin Business editor: Alan Vaughn avaughnstarbulletin.com 529-4792 Friday, December 24, 2004 Section Dollar keeps falling against euro StarVciassinads Starts on Page CI 1 Call 524-7827 Traders bet the dollar will drop even more next year Legals and Public Notices Page C8 lead to higher inflation and higher interest rates, creating potentially serious problems for Bush next year.

Anxiety about a potentially steep fall in the dollar could prompt foreign investors to demand higher interest rates on Treasury bonds to compensate for the risk of a plunge in the value of those bonds. But the more immediate pressure, and potentially a greater danger for Bush, is that foreign investors may be losing their appetite for the flood Please see Dollar, C6 But global investors have become more anxious in recent weeks about America's growing trade deficit, which is likely to exceed $600 billion this year, as well as the federal government's need to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars a year for the foreseeable future. Foreign capital inflows into the United States have slowed significantly in the last year, and much of. the money has come from Asian central banks, seeking to prop up the dollar, rather than from foreign private investors. An abrupt fall in the dollar could that the dollar will fall further next year.

The dollar has fallen about 7 percent against the euro since President Bush won re-election on Nov. 2, and about a third in the last two years. Bush has essentially brushed off concerns about the dollar's decline, declaring earlier this month that he favors a "strong dollar" but that "markets should make the decision" about its value. By Edmund Andrews New York Times WASHINGTON The dollar hit another record low against the euro yesterday, and sank against other major currencies, in what analysts said was a growing unease about the ballooning trade and budget deficits in the United States. The euro briefly hit a new high of $1.35 against the dollar, with traders around the world betting BUSINESS BRIEFS HAWAII Kahala Nui to hire 225 employees The new Kahala Nui retirement complex, set to open Feb.

15, plans to hire 225 employees and will hold a job fair Jan. 8 next door at the Star of the Sea School. Positions include administration, concierge, housekeeping, security, valet and nursing. Some employees will be hired immediately, while others may start up to two months later. Kahala Nui, a $200 million senior community covering acres mauka of Kahala Mall, will offer a full spectrum of care to residents.

Heide Cook sells subsidiary Helde Cook a local mechanical contractor and air-conditioning service company, has agreed to sell its Island Controls subsidiary to the company's former chief executive, Kenneth J. Richardson, for an undisclosed price. Island Controls provides automated building controls systems, including sensors that turn lights on and off and devices that can monitor temperature from a remote computer. Richardson will serve as president and owner of Island Controls, effective Jan. 1 NATION Stewart's broker will go to prison NEW YORK Martha Stewart's co-defendant and former stockbroker will report to prison early, but will continue to appeal his conviction for lying to federal investigators, his lawyer said.

Peter Bacanovic, a former broker at Merrill Lynch will begin serving a five-month sentence on Jan. 18, his attorney, Richard Strassberg, told the Wall Street Journal. U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedar-baum is expected to recommend to the Bureau of Prisons that Bacanovic report to the Nellis federal prison in Las Vegas, Strassberg said. Strassberg did not return a telephone call or from the Associated Press seeking comment.

Bacanovic has been allowed to remain free since his sentencing in July-pending his appeal. After his prison term is up, Bacanovic will serve five months of home detention. Stewart and Bacanovic were convicted in March of lying about why Stewart unloaded shares of ImClone Systems Inc. stock in 2001, just before the price plunged. Kansas meatpacker axing 150 jobs WICHITA, Kan.

A Kansas meatpacker, hit by the loss of lucrative export markets because of fears of mad cow disease in American beef, is cutting 150 jobs and reducing production at its slaughterhouse. Creekstone Farms Premium Beef blamed its Inability to do the kind of testing for mad cow, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, that would appease overseas customers. One year ago yesterday, the nation's first case of mad cow was discovered in a single animal in Washington state. Many nations, including Japan the most lucrative overseas market for American beef, with sales exceeding $1.7 billion in 2003 then closed their borders to U.S. beef imports.

Creekstone Farms wanted to test all the cattle it slaughters for the disease, hoping to ap-. pease Japanese officials. The Department of Agriculture, however, has refused to allow such comprehensive testing. A graphic design market has found a niche in making instruction manuals easier to read By Duncan Mansfield like Rubbermaid, Maytag, Moen, Hunter Fan and Skil Power Tools improve what's known as "post-purchase communications." In other words, building a better instruction manual a logically written and well-illustrated flyer or booklet that tells a consumer how to assemble, use and maintain a product. With four Christmas bikes to build for his four children under 10, Robert Smith of Rockford, 111., lamented, "The instruction manuals were crazy.

How do they expect people to understand this (stuff)?" Rich Goldsmith, a single dad in Please see Help, C6 Associated Press KNOXVILLE, Tenn. Some assembly required. It's the consumer's lament, the do-it-yourselfer's Everest, the bane of parents lost in a sea of toy parts and diagrams on Christmas morning. "It's amazing how many people see that as a warning label," said Jim Kughler, vice president and general manager at Infographics. "We are trying to change that mindset." The small graphic design company in Knoxville has found a growing market helping manufacturers ASSOCIATED PRESS Eddie Hopps thumbed thrpugh an instruction manual last week produced by his Infographics design company in Knoxville, Tenn.

Hopps says the goal is to "break it down as simply as we can." Nielsen ratings Independence Air cannot fly it alone The carrier bids to resume flying United Express routes, a knowledgeable source says Rank Rating Share 6 p.m. KHON 1 14 31 KITV 2 6 14 KGMB 2 6 13 KHNL 4 4 9 10 P.M. KHON 1 12 26 KGMB 2 9 20 KITV 3 6 13 KHNL 3 6 12 TV news faces shrinking audiences By Allison Schaefers aschaefersstarbulletin.com Star-Bulletin staff and news services By Jeremy W. Peters The rating is the percentage of all households that are watching a show. Share Is the percentage of households using television at that time who are watching a show.

Source: Nielsen Media Research STAR BULLETIN On vacation Erika Engle is on vacation. TheBuzz returns Jan. 4. Weekly occupancy Hotel snapshot for the week ended'Dec. 18.

low-fare segment of the market is proving to be just as tough as the battle between the majors and the low-fare players. Independence, formerly known as Atlantic Coast Airlines, started operating on its own this summer after 14 years of flying regional routes for United. Now, its planes are half empty and its cash reserves are quickly diminishing. The company, based in Dulles, lost $82.7 million in the third quarter. It said in a recent Securities and Exchange Commissidn filing that if it could not renegotiate an $83 million aircraft lease payment, it could slip into bankruptcy.

In another sign of its dire financial condition, Independence announced this week that it had sold four jets the only ones that it owned outright leaving it with 83 planes. New York Times Six months after Independence Air stopped flying as a regional carrier for United Airlines and began flying on its own, it is seeking to return to the company it left. Independence, beset with heavy losses, disappointing ticket sales and high fuel prices, has submitted a bid to resume flying United Express routes, a perso'n with knowledge of the bidding said yesterday. News of Independence's bid was originally reported in USA Today yesterday. Officials at United and Independence said they had no comment.

The news about Independence illustrates its bleak financial outlook and the tough choices it faces if it wants to stay in business. The airline's problems also underscore that competing in the behind the TV sets was down." KHON leads among all newscasts. The Channel 2 News rating and share doubles that of second-ranked stations KITV-4 and KGMB-9 at 6 p.m. and its rating and share is double that of third-ranked stations KITV and KHNL at 10 p.m. The rating is the percentage of overall households that are watching a station, while the percentage of those households watching TV that are tuned into the station.

Those numbers are then broken down demographically according Percent Room Occupancy change rate RevPAR U.S. 49.0 10.9 $80.51 $39.45 Miami 59.1 7.5 $95.82 $56.64 New Orleans J2.4 2.7 $81.23 $34.46 New York 84.4 8.8 $224.41 $189.36 Oahu 69.6 $124.33 $86.48 San Francisco 61.3 36.5 $109.38 $67.04 While TV station rankings saw little movement in the most recent rating period, the latest numbers indicate the audience for locally produced news is shrinking. Bragging rights come with ranking, but advertising dollars come with success in viewer demographics. Most advertisers seek to air their messages on stations that have the greatest share of the adult viewers they covet. Those audiences are shrinking.

"Everybody held the position that they were in the past, but everyone suffered from a demo-poor ratings period," said Mike Rosenberg, president and general manger of KITV-4. "The number of people Revenue per available room Note: Year over year percent change for room rates and RevPAR are only available monthly. Source: Smith Travel Researc h. Hospitality Advisors LLC STARBULLETIN Please see News, C6.