Martha Stewart is known for her high-end tastes, blogging to her fans about the pleasures of "thick and fluffy Turkish towels" and "finely ironed linens."

But her passions are on a collision course with retailer J.C. Penney's (JCP) need to turn a profit, reports The New York Post. 

At issue is a deal Penney struck with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSO) to sell household products branded with Stewart's name, as part of the retailer's strategy to lure new shoppers. 

Stewart is insisting that her products for J.C. Penney incorporate high-end materials -- such as top-quality fabrics and packaging components -- leading to concerns among its executives that the retailer will lose money on the goods, the Post notes.

 

Iran and the United States have been at odds for decades over a variety of issues. But competition between the two countries over pistachio production has apparently become a matter of national pride.

Iran has long been the world’s largest producer of pistachios. The Associated Press says pistachios are among the nation’s top non-oil exports, with production there at over 200,000 tons a year and accounting for about $1.5 billion annually. Pistachio production also employs hundreds of thousands of Iranians, and much of that produce is consumed domestically.

Iran’s Fars News Agency recently described the U.S. as a "key rival" in pistachio production, and just last month noted that the Iranian pistachio, "which enjoys high health standards and good quality, has beaten the American rival even in the U.S. market for years."

 

Want to sell your home? A survey suggests that certain phrases and buzzwords in real-estate ads help move some properties faster --- and that those terms can vary depending on where you live and the neighborhood price range.

A study by Point2Homes.com of 300,000 real estate listings made last year found certain words or phrases highlighting a property's attributes and upgrades "seem to carry a special weight with people looking for a home."

 

Certain terms were universally popular. As you might expect, "beautiful" was the most frequently used word in overall real estate listings, followed by "hardwood floors" and "stainless-steel appliances."

 

But the study found a localized popularity of some terms or phrases, depending on the region.

 

The floating privy and vomitorium known as the disabled Carnival (CCL) Triumph cruise ship finally docked late Thursday night in Alabama after four days in the Gulf of Mexico with overflowing toilets and dwindling food supplies.

The reports from the ship's more than 4,000 passengers, however, are a bit more measured than early dispatches from a ship so hobbled that it will be taken out of service for 12 more cruises. When CNN's Martin Savidge interviewed passenger Rob Kenny and compared conditions on the boat to those experienced in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Kenny was quick to draw the distinction.

"Well, let's put that in perspective,” he said. “Katrina was a major a devastation. We're out on a freaking cruise ship, and just out here having a good time. . . those are two different things."

 

Updated: 4:40 p.m. ET.

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) shares slid Friday afternoon after Bloomberg News reported that the retail giant had its worst monthly sales start in at least seven years as payroll-tax increases hit shoppers already battling a slow economy.

"In case you haven't seen a sales report these days, February MTD (month-to-date) sales are a total disaster," Jerry Murray, Wal-Mart’s vice president of finance and logistics, said in a Feb. 12 email to other executives. "The worst start to a month I have seen in my ~7 years with the company."

Wal-Mart had been expecting a strong start to February because of the Super Bowl, milder weather and paycheck cycles, according to the minutes of a Feb. 1 officers' meeting Bloomberg obtained. January sales had disappointed as well. 

Billionaire Carl Icahn has made a huge bet on Herbalife (HLF), acquiring a 12.98% stake in the multi-level marketer of nutritional supplements and personal care products that his rival Bill Ackman, who has a $1 billion short position in the stock, has called a Ponzi scheme.

Ichan, who has made billions over the decades through his shareholder activism, told CNBC that his decision to invest in Herbalife wasn't motivated by any personal animosity he has toward Ackman.

"I'm not going to lie to you and say if he gets squeezed, I'm going to cry and do penance," he told the business-news channel. "The fact that I don't like Ackman you can say is the strawberry on top of the ice cream."

Shares of Herbalife rose about 6% Friday on news of Icahn's investment.

 

Taxes are said to be one of life's inevitabilities -- unless you're Facebook (FB), which last year not only didn't pay a cent in federal or state income taxes, but actually will receive tax refunds of $429 million, according to a new report.

The reason? Even though Facebook made a pre-tax profit of $1.06 billion last year, it benefited from a tax break: the tax deductibility of executive stock options, the report from the Citizens for Tax Justice says. 

That reduced Facebook's federal and state income taxes by $1.03 billion last year. But it also is carrying forward another $2.17 billion in additional tax-option tax breaks for use in future years, the report says. Altogether, that means Facebook will shave off a total of more than $3 billion in current and future taxes.

 

Why have Elizabeth Warren just give testimony as the leader of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau when she can pants the bureau and just about every other financial regulator as a member of the Senate's banking committee?

If this was the plan of Congressional Republicans, Wall Street lobbyists and outgoing Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner when they opposed her taking the director's seat at the consumer bureau back in 2011, then well played.

Now a freshman Democratic Senator from Massachusetts, Warren's first hearing boiled down to one question that Americans have been positing since the financial crisis began roughly five years ago: When was the last time anybody took a Wall Street bank to trial instead of reaching a settlement?