Investor's Business Daily articles from April 2005

Investor's Business Daily archives from April 2005

Jobless Claims Up, Inflation Is Still OK, Factory Gauge Hot; All Eyes On Fri.'s Jobs Data; Claims hit 2-month high, Fed's price gauge tame, Midwest plants humming.(A)
April 1, 2005... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE Data out Thursday offered a mixed portrait of the economy as jobless claims rose, inflation remained tame and Chicago-area manufacturing heated up. New jobless claims rose 20,000 to 350,000 last week, the Labor...

GOP Congress May Stiffen Regs On Freddie Mac And Fannie Mae; Weakened by scandals, mortgage giants to face hearings in early April.(A)
April 1, 2005... Byline: SEAN HIGGINS Republicans have pushed major reforms of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for years. This time the mortgage industry giants might be too weak to fend them off. Accounting scandals have hobbled both government sponsored...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
April 1, 2005... Crude Over $55 On Talk Of $105 1May crude rose to $56.10, closing up $1.41 to $55.40 a barrel, after Goldman Sachs warned oil could reach $105 due to resilient demand. It had said oil could hit $80 in a "super spike." April heating oil and...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
April 1, 2005... STARBUCKS named Jim Donald CEO. The former Starbucks North American ops chief will join the board and assume the job Fri. Shares rose. COGNOS beat views with 58 cents a share profit in Q4, 16% over the year-ago figure. The firm forecast Q1...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
April 1, 2005... TELECOM Qwest raises MCI bid to $9 bil The local phone firm raised its buyout offer by 6.5% to $9 bil, topping Verizon's sweetened bid for MCI by 18.4%. MCI's No. 1 shareholder had called both Qwest and Verizon's previous offers too...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
April 1, 2005... ENERGY GulfMark up after beating views The offshore oil and gas service provider rose 8.5% to 25.91 after it reported earning 20 cents a share ex items, 4 times that of a year ago and 6 cents over views. GulfMark Offshore's sales grew...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
April 1, 2005... FINANCE Freddie Mac profit tumbled 43% The U.S.-backed mortgage company released delayed '04 earnings of $3.78 a share, down 43% due to a loss in derivatives used to hedge against interest rate risks. Freddie Mac forecast lower net...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
April 1, 2005... Slim gains for Feb. factory orders New orders rose just 0.2% after a downwardly revised flat Jan. Economists expected a 0.5% gain, but durable goods were revised. Aircraft orders jumped 32.2%. Ex transportation, orders actually fell 0.1%....

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
April 1, 2005... Scientific Games won a $12 mil, 7 1/2-year contract with the official Philippines lottery's operator, Pacific Online Systems. Shares rose 1%. Mosaic made 10 cents a share in Q3, 11% over a year ago, but the chemical maker's sales fell 7%...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
April 1, 2005... World Bank approves Wolfowitz The bank's board unanimously OK'd Deputy Defense Sec'y Paul Wolfowitz to be president of the 184-nation development bank, despite misgivings by some over his role as an architect of the Iraq war. Bush...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
April 1, 2005... Man moves objects via brain chip A 25-year-old man paralyzed from the waist down after a knife attack is able to control a computer mouse, move a prosthetic hand and play video games simply by thinking. Last summer, New England Sinai...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
April 1, 2005... ** The NYPD is blaming iPod theft for a surge in crime on public transit. Subway thefts rose 20% through mid-March. Police said the "common denominator" is thieves stealing Apple's portable music player. ** Startups in need of cash will...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
April 1, 2005... Long lines at Zimbabwe's polls Supporters of President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party and the opposition both predicted victory in parliamentary elections. Analysts warned if the ruling party is declared the winner, unrest may follow...

Bob Cousy Passed The Test With Flying Colors; Shoot To Win: The fancy guard wore Celtic green and white on the way to 6 NBA titles and the Hall of Fame.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
April 1, 2005... Byline: CURT SCHLEIER Bob Cousy was a different kind of basketball player. Unlike many who play the game today, he didn't showboat after he made a difficult shot. No in-your-face moves. No trash talk. It wasn't about him. As Bill...

BE PERSISTENT AND WORK HARD Demand, The Mother Of Invention.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
April 1, 2005... Byline: Cord Cooper 5 Thomas Edison had a simple philosophy: If you can't sell it, don't invent it. He learned that lesson early on through dogged trial and error. In his early 20s, Edison worked as a telegraph operator for Western...

Taxis Take GPS Along On The Ride; Accelerates Efficiency; Cab companies starting to add global positioning systems for faster service.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2005... Byline: SHEILA RILEY Global positioning systems are changing the landscape for a formerly low-tech industry: cab driving. GPS technology, which uses satellite communication to pinpoint a location, lets dispatchers know exactly where...

Snapfish Gives HP Shot At More Photo Options; Customers Get Choices; Printer king bought the online photo site to help develop bigger business.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2005... Byline: KEN SPENCER BROWN It takes four minutes to see why Hewlett-Packard bought the photo-sharing site Snapfish last week. That's how long the drive is from HP's Silicon Valley headquarters to the nearest Walgreens store. For 29...

With Latest Suite, Adobe Systems About To Get More 'Creative'; Creative Suite 2 Due Monday; Product aimed at managing creative project work flow, extends its platform push.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
April 1, 2005... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ Adobe Systems used to be known for making stand-alone software for tasks like editing photos or sharing documents. Now it's all about making complete software suites for managing work flow. Its evolution from...

NEW AMERICA SPOTLIGHT Manufacturer Benefits From Diverse Markets; Sun Hydraulics; Sarasota, Fla. Sunhydraulics.com.(THE NEW AMERICA)
April 1, 2005... Byline: David Isaac A company without a budget? Without a sales plan? Without forecasts? Why, yes -- at least according to officials at Sun Hydraulics, which makes high-end hydraulic cartridge valves, manifolds and subsystems. ...

MOLINA HEALTHCARE Long Beach, California; Managed Care Firm Looks Beyond California.(THE NEW AMERICA)
April 1, 2005... Byline: MARILYN ALVA After providing managed care services to many of California's low-income Medicaid clients for a quarter of a century, Molina Healthcare decided to strike out for greener pastures. Most of those pastures are located...

Pru Fund Wins With Multimanagers; Owns Massey Energy; Several value-oriented subadvisers diversify portfolio ideas, cut risks.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(MUTUAL FUND PROFILE)
April 1, 2005... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF Want to double the number of best ideas held by a mutual fund? Just double the number of managers. That's what Prudential Investments has done with its $89 million Strategic Partners Small Cap Value Fund. Pru...

Animal Farm.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
April 1, 2005... Separation Of Powers: The Constitution says we have three co-equal branches of government. The Terri Schiavo case is the latest example of one branch thinking it is more equal than the others. The attempt by Congress to extend to Schiavo...

Mugabe's Mess.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
April 1, 2005... Democracy: In Zimbabwe, it's all over but the shouting. Thursday's vote no doubt kept Marxist dictator Robert Mugabe in power -- a sad travesty for a once-free land. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Mugabe, one of the world's...

LETTERS.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... Upwind From Pew Wednesday's editorial "Downwind From Pew" is so riddled with factual errors that it is probably petty on our part to object to your characterization of us as "the perhaps misnamed Center for Public Integrity." I don't...

Low Accumulation Rating Can Spot Diminishing Demand.(MAKING MONEY)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
April 1, 2005... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG It always pays to watch out for stocks that build decoy bases. A stock may appear to possess price strength. The decline from the base's high to low may be modest, suggesting plenty of institutional demand....

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Oil Prices Rise; Dow, S&P 500 Fall 2.6% In Q1.(MAKING MONEY)
April 1, 2005... Byline: NANCY GONDO Many NYSE stocks closed lower Thursday as oil prices rose. A Goldman Sachs report said oil may be in a "super spike" period where prices could surge as high as $105 a barrel. The Dow pulled back 0.4%, the S&P 500...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(GENERAL MARKET & SECTORS)
April 1, 2005... Analyzing the price and volume changes in the major market averages each day is essential to successful investing. They reveal major tops and bottoms in the stock market. Most stocks follow the general market's trend. They tend to rise...

AptarGroup Shaping A Three-Month Base.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
April 1, 2005... Byline: Nancy Gondo AptarGroup marked an intraday high Dec. 23 before easing, then matched that high on Jan. 3. It pulled back up to 14% over the next 3 1/2 weeks to shape the left side of a base. A handle may have started March 4, but...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Composite Ends First Quarter 8.1% Lower.(B)
April 1, 2005... Byline: KATHARINE STALTER On the last day of the first quarter, the Nasdaq slipped 0.3% Thursday as volume picked up. For the quarter, the index was down 8.1%. Healthcare Services Group erased Wednesday's heavy-volume gains. The stock...

Intuitive Surgical Profit Increases 700% In Q4.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
April 1, 2005... Byline: Katharine Stalter Intuitive Surgical ran up 140% in 2004. The stock gapped up Feb. 9 in heavy turnover after the company said fourth-quarter earnings vaulted 700% to 32 cents per share. Sales jumped 52%. This month the stock...

Chevron Set To Pay $18 Bil For Unocal, A 15% Reserve Lift; Deal To Boost Asia Presence; Natural gas holdings are another big draw in buy of No. 9 U.S. oil concern.(A)
April 5, 2005... Byline: MARILYN ALVA Seeking to raise its future production profile to meet surging worldwide demand for oil and gas, ChevronTexaco agreed Monday for the second time in four years to buy another big oil firm. In 2001, it was Texaco....

Why Liberals Want To Protect High Earners' Social Security Pay; Some stands seem odd as political camps seek backing on reform plan.(A)
April 5, 2005... Byline: JED GRAHAM The latest twist in the battle over Social Security has one side embracing steep benefit cuts for the highest earners to avert any cuts for the lowest earners. The other side warns that would be far too tough on the...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
April 5, 2005... ChevronTexaco Buying Unocal 1The No .2 U.S. oil company will buy rival Unocal for $18 bil in cash, stock and assumed debt as it moves to bolster soaring profits by tapping into another vein of oil and natural gas. ChevronTexaco valued its...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
April 5, 2005... TESSERA TECH signed a tech licensing deal with Hynix Semiconductor. Shares rose. HI-TECH PHARMACAL signed a deal to license and supply a generic version of Orapred, a children's asthma drug made by BioMarin Pharma. Hi-Tech fell. ...

BUSINESS BRIEFS/IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
April 5, 2005... MEDICAL FDA seeks breast-implant data Regulators asked Inamed, the surgical and medical device firm, to provide more information regarding the safety of its silicon-gel breast implants. Inamed already markets the next-generation...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
April 5, 2005... ENERGY Devon to sell $1.2 bil in assets Devon Energy said it expects to sell nearly all of its U.S. oil and gas properties for $1.2 bil, or about $915 mil after taxes. The independent oil and gas producer will also sell some properties...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
April 5, 2005... RETAIL Jos. A Bank Q1 profit rises 29% The clothing retailer shot up 7.5% to 31.88, its highest since Oct. '04, after it reported earning 88 cents a share, 4 cents over views and 20 cents over the year-ago period. Sales jumped 26.8% to...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
April 5, 2005... TELECOM/TECH Verizon may withdraw MCI offer The telecom firm threatened to drop its $7.5 bil offer to buy MCI if MCI's board declares Qwest's rival $8.9 bil offer as superior. MCI directors last week backed Verizon's lower offer. The...

Northrop At A Glance.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
April 5, 2005... Northrop At A Glance Born: 1895 in Newark, N.J. Died: 1981 in Glendale, Calif. Education: High school diploma. Achievements: ** His company built the original Flying Wing in 1947, the precursor to the B-2 stealth bomber....

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
April 5, 2005... Retail profit margins picking up After-tax profits at large retailers rose to 3.7% of sales in Q4 from 2.8% in Q3. Their after-tax profits climbed to $16.48 bil from $11.5 bil in Q3. The Commerce Dept. defines large retailers as those with...

TRENDS/INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
April 5, 2005... Body motion moves mobiles University of Glasgow researchers have developed "audio clouds," a Wi-Fi technology that uses small gestures and noises to control mobile devices like MP3 players and phones. The nonvisual interfaces are designed...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
April 5, 2005... Bush touts Ukraine partnership The White House rolled out the red carpet to welcome newly elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. President Bush said he would one day like to see the ex-Soviet state join NATO and the World Trade...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
April 5, 2005... Italian, African top bets for pope Bookmakers in Ireland say Italy's Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi and Nigeria's Cardinal Francis Arinze are the favorites to be the next pope. Arinze, 72, is the Vatican's point man for relations with Islam....

FOCUS YOUR TIME AND MONEY Saving Cents Makes Sense.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
April 5, 2005... Byline: Adelia Cellini Linecker 7 Running a small business requires some creativity when it comes to finding discounts to cut your expenses. Many small businesses consist of one employee -- the owner. If you're a freelance Web designer or...

Jack Northrop Hit His Targets; Wing It: The innovator kept the military flying high with the B-2 and other aircraft.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
April 5, 2005... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON Nearly three decades after he retired, an ailing Jack Northrop got a call from a top official at the company he founded -- Northrop Corp. -- that would fulfill a lifelong dream. It was 1980, and Northrop was...

Adobe Systems Pushes Design Envelope As Rivalry With Quark Enters New Phase; Adobe Releases Latest Suite; The two dominate software market geared to graphics designers, publishing pros.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
April 5, 2005... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ The battle for the hearts and minds of graphic designers and publishers entered a new phase Monday with the unveiling of Adobe Systems' Creative Suite 2. With the second edition of Adobe's popular Creative Suite,...

Expo Spotlights Shift To Digital; Cable Firms Tout New Services; Industry executives see big potential from digital video recorders, other offerings.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
April 5, 2005... Byline: MIKE ANGELL In the battle between the two top broadband Internet platforms -- cable modems and digital subscriber lines -- cable got a high-profile endorsement Monday. Larry Page, Google's co-founder and president, admitted he...

MicroStrategy Eyeing Casual Business Users With New Software.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
April 5, 2005... Byline: MARILYN MUCH In a move to gain muscle in the competitive business intelligence software arena, MicroStrategy has kicked its product line up a notch. The newest generation of the company's software, MicroStrategy 8, fills in...

Plantronics Filling Bluetooth Demand; Unveils Cell Phone Gear; The short-range wireless technology may be boon for No. 1 headset maker.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
April 5, 2005... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ Cell phone headsets using Bluetooth short-range wireless technology until now have been mostly for geeks. They're big and bulky and look like something only Lt. Uhura from "Star Trek" would wear. But new headsets...

SOUTHERN PERU COPPER Phoenix, Arizona; It Doesn't Pinch Pennies In Quest For Copper.(THE NEW AMERICA)
April 5, 2005... Byline: ALAN R. ELLIOTT Due south of Bisbee, Ariz., 25 miles beyond what locals call la linea -- the U.S.-Mexico border -- lies one of the world's largest copper mines. Even after two centuries of hard labor, the mine near the town of...

Franklin's Jamieson Finds Opportunities In Choppy Market.(SERIES: MUTUAL FUND QUARTERLY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)(FUND MANAGER Q & A)
April 5, 2005... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN Edward Jamieson has been a professional money manager through four decades. As chief investment officer of domestic equities at Franklin Advisers, he oversees some $80 billion in stock assets. He joined...

Stock Funds Declined In 1st Qtr As Earnings, Oil Fears Escalated; Smaller-cap funds held up better than bigger caps, and value outlasted growth.(SERIES: MUTUAL FUND QUARTERLY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
April 5, 2005... Byline: KEN HOOVER Stock mutual funds took a hit in the first quarter of 2005, reversing the previous quarter's solid gain as fear of high oil prices, rising interest rates and corporate profits took a toll on investor morale. The...

Need More Time On Your Taxes? File An Extension.(SERIES: MUTUAL FUND QUARTERLY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)(TAXES)
April 5, 2005... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF Ticktock! The hours are dwindling toward the April 15 deadline for filing tax returns. But if you can't file by then, you can get a four-month extension. "You don't need a reason," said Harris Abrams, a tax...

Top Stock Funds Pile Into Oil Stocks, Including Newfield And Haliburton; Among techs, managers remained hot on Apple; Morgan Stanley is sold.(SERIES: MUTUAL FUND QUARTERLY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)(BUYS & SELLS)
April 5, 2005... Byline: JULIE HUYNH This year's top-performing stock funds have been adding such energy stocks as Newfield Exploration, ConocoPhillips, Nabors Industries, Questar and Encana. Oil has been one of the top industries in this year's choppy...

New Buys Of Top-Performing Stock Funds This Year.(SERIES: MUTUAL FUND QUARTERLY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
April 5, 2005... Tessera Tech TSRA Elec-Semiconductor Mfg 42.88999758316 Psychiatric Sol PSYS Medical-Outpnt/Hm Care 45.0899973820.2 Valero Energy VLO Oil&Gas-Refining/Mktg 77.769798121781 Southwstrn Energy SWN Oil&Gas-U S Expl&Prod 59.61989722930...

Latest Sells Of Top-Performing Funds.(SERIES: MUTUAL FUND QUARTERLY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
April 5, 2005... Morgan Stanley MWD Finance-Investment Bkrs 17710 Firstenergy Corp FE Utility-Electric Power 18117 Pioneer Natural Res PXD Oil&Gas-U S Expl&Prod 16106 May Dept Stores MAY Retail-Department Stores 945 Pediatrix Medical PDX...

Rising Rates Took Toll On Bond Funds In Month And Qtr.(SERIES: MUTUAL FUND QUARTERLY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
April 5, 2005... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN Bond funds that invested in short-term issues and higher quality issues weathered stormy markets the best in March. Shorter-term bond funds suffered the least, according to preliminary Lipper data. But corporate...

High Yields Helped Utility Funds Weather The Downdraft During March.(SERIES: MUTUAL FUND QUARTERLY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
April 5, 2005... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF In a down month, every sector lost ground. Utility funds, shielded by their relatively high yields, lost the least, backsliding 0.09%, says Lipper. The next best showing was by real estate funds. They lost 1.69%....

Foreign Equity Funds Fell In March And Quarter As Dollar Strengthened.(SERIES: MUTUAL FUND QUARTERLY)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
April 5, 2005... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN Rising interest rates and an improving dollar sent chills through international markets in March. That was enough to tip the scales for funds focused on China (-4.21% in March, -1.36% in first quarter) and Japan...

Pie Beta Kappa.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
April 5, 2005... Academia: Discourse at our so-called institutions of higher learning has descended to the level of a pie-throwing contest as campus bias again rears its ugly head and liberals choose Bluto over Voltaire as their spiritual leader. It's been...

Big Oil's Choice.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
April 5, 2005... Energy: Cynics will no doubt see something sinister in ChevronTexaco's decision to buy Unocal for $18 billion. They should relax. The move is just a reflection of the cockeyed economics of today's oil industry. With oil breaching the...

Busy Doing Nothing.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
April 5, 2005... Darfur: A United Kingdom report puts the death toll at 300,000 in Sudan's war-ravaged province. What is the United Nations' response to this gruesome slaughter? Send in the lawyers. To be fair, it needs to be noted that the Security Council...

Where's The Outrage?(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
April 5, 2005... News Relativism: The attention given to any event that shows the U.S. in a bad light, and the inattention paid to news that makes U.S. mistakes pale by comparison, never ceases to amaze. Case in point: word last Thursday that a Canadian...

Spotting The Pivot: F5 Networks Raced Up On Big Trade.(MAKING MONEY)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
April 5, 2005... Byline: NANCY GONDO Volume can provide helpful clues for stocks on your watch list. It often helps you determine whether mutual funds and other big players are buying or selling. Rising prices on heavy turnover indicate big money is...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Oil, Gas Stocks Close Mixed As Crude Declines.(MAKING MONEY)
April 5, 2005... Byline: KATHARINE STALTER The Dow industrials ended Monday's session 0.2% higher and the S&P 500 advanced 0.3% in lighter volume. Crude oil prices settled at 57.01 a barrel, down 26 cents after reaching a record overnight high of...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(GENERAL MARKET & SECTORS)
April 5, 2005... Analyzing the price and volume changes in the major market averages each day is essential to successful investing. They reveal major tops and bottoms in the stock market. Most stocks follow the general market's trend. They tend to rise...

SRA Wins Deal Valued As High As $86.4 Mil.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
April 5, 2005... Byline: Katharine Stalter SRA International broke out of a nine-month, cup-with-handle base in mid-August. By late December, the stock had run up 55% from its buy point. It's since pulled back, briefly tagging its 50-day moving average...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Ends Two-Day Slide On Lighter Volume.(B)
April 5, 2005... Byline: NANCY GONDO Nasdaq stocks fell in early trade, but reversed course in the last hours of Monday's session to close higher. But volume shrank 15%. The composite gained 0.3% to get near its 200-day moving average, which it breached...

Autodesk Builds Base Above 200-Day Line.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
April 5, 2005... Byline: Nancy Gondo Autodesk ran up to a new high the week ended Dec. 24 before pulling back over the next five weeks to start the left side of a base. It fell as much as 33% from the left peak to the bottom of the base. Volume was heavy...

U.S. Stiffens ID Rules For Americans, Others At All Border Crossings; A Damper On Businesses?; Many firms along borders look to the opposite side for workers and customers.(A)
April 6, 2005... Byline: DONNA HOWELL No more trips to Toronto or Tijuana without papers in order. The federal government is phasing in a security crackdown that by 2008 will require passports or a special travel ID at all air, sea and land border...

Asbestos Reform Plan Hit As Big Insurers Fear Cost; 15 Firms Urge Bill Be Killed; Senate measure proposes $140 billion fund to settle industry liability lawsuits.(A)
April 6, 2005... Byline: SEAN HIGGINS Efforts to resolve the asbestos litigation crisis took another blow Monday when 15 major insurance companies rejected a proposed reform bill. Instead they urged lawmakers to scrap it and start over. The move was a...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
April 6, 2005... U.S. Passports To Be Mandatory 1Americans will need passports to re-enter the U.S. from Canada, Mexico, Panama and Bermuda by '08 as part of a tightening of U.S. border controls. Sec'y of State Condoleezza Rice said the change is needed to...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
April 6, 2005... IBM is expected to disclose details of a new marketing partnership with storage systems supplier Network Appliance. Both rose. RESEARCH IN MOTION warned Q1 sales will just meet or fall short of views. The forecast overshadowed Q4 profit of...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
April 6, 2005... MEDICAL PacifiCare rises on '06 outlook The Medicare HMO's shares rose 4% to 58.56 after it said higher U.S. gov't payments would boost its '06 revenue; it expects its Secure Horizons Medicare Advantage plans' rates to rise 6.5-7% as...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
April 6, 2005... BUILDING MDC orders set new record The home builder logged the most home orders for any quarter in its history with 4,546 orders, a 3% rise from last year. Arizona orders were up 27%, while Maryland and Virginia markets each logged 17%...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
April 6, 2005... FINANCE Morgan Stanley dispute deepens Shareholders and former senior execs of the investment bank, broker and lender pushed the board to replace CEO Philip Purcell with Robert Scott, a former chief operating officer and chief...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
April 6, 2005... INTERNET Google up on ratings upgrade The Internet search engine's shares rose 2% to 188.57 after Lehman Bros. upgraded its rating from equal weight to overweight. Analyst Douglas Anmuth said Google boosted its share of U.S. search...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
April 6, 2005... Tax refunds becoming a drag Tax refunds averaged some $18 bil a week in Feb., up 9% vs. a year earlier, helping fuel consumer spending. In March they averaged $12 bil, up just 1%. In the week ended April 1, they declined 3.4% vs. a year...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
April 6, 2005... Aladdin Knowledge raised its Q1 revenue forecast to $20.1 mil-$20.3 mil, topping views. The network security services provider backed an EPS forecast in line with estimates. Shares rose 4.5% to 23.50. Monsanto will sell its EnviroChem...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
April 6, 2005... Officials lobby for Patriot Act Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller urged Congress to renew every provision of the anti-terror Patriot Act. Mueller also asked lawmakers to expand the bureau's ability to obtain...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
April 6, 2005... Presidents to join pope service Ex-Presidents Bush and Clinton will accompany President Bush, his wife Laura and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Friday's funeral for Pope John Paul II in Italy. Meanwhile, the Vatican said about 1...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
April 6, 2005... States squared off over health Health and Human Services compared each state on 14 public health categories from flu vaccines to prenatal care. For example, Idaho had the 2nd lowest colorectal cancer death rate, but it had the 2nd worst...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
April 6, 2005... ** Time Warner Cable is testing an on-screen digital menu that lets channels direct viewers to sister properties. Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt says the tool will let TV programmers control video-on-demand offerings as well as linear TV...

Cha-Ching! Charles Kettering's Inventions Paid Off; Self-Starter: He created the first electric cash register and revolutionized auto ignition systems by pursuing the practical.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(BEST OF LEADERS & SUCCESS)
April 6, 2005... Byline: KIRK SHINKLE Charles Kettering figured anyone could come up with new ideas. The rare skill, he thought, was ensuring that the ideas were of practical use. That was innovation's sharpest spur -- and one Kettering was determined...