Investor's Business Daily articles from August 2004

Investor's Business Daily archives from August 2004

GDP Growth Of 3% In Q2's "Soft Spot' Is Well Below Views; But Q1 Is Bumped To 4.5%; Higher gas prices took a toll on the consumer, but economy otherwise solid.(A)
August 2, 2004... Byline: JED GRAHAM The economy grew at its slowest pace in more than a year last quarter amid a sharp deceleration in consumer spending. GDP growth slowed to a 3.0% annual rate, down from the first quarter's upwardly revised 4.5% pace,...

MARKET TOOL BAR.(A)
August 2, 2004... S&P 500 INDEX 1101.72 +1.29 (+0.1%) Stocks eke out gains on mixed bag of data DOW JONES IND. 10,139.71 +10.47 (+0.1%) Boeing up 8% for wk. and near 2004 high NYSE VOL (MIL) 1,295 -228...

For Democrats, It's War On Bush As Party Moves Past Convention; Focus on U.S. security seems to strike a chord despite party divisions.(A)
August 2, 2004... Byline: BRIAN MITCHELL Except for the Rev. Al Sharpton's angry ad lib and a few uncooperative balloons, the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston went off last week without a hitch. Which surprised no one more than the...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
August 2, 2004... Economic Growth Slowed In Q2 1The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3% in Q1, below Q1's 4.5% rate (revised up from 3.9%) and below the 3.7% rate analysts expected. Inflation appeared in check as the so-called chain deflator rose...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
August 2, 2004... SOUTHWEST AIRLINES and the Transport Workers Union Local 556 ended more than 2 years of talks after flight attendants voted to approve a new contract. Negotiations had required ex-CEO James Parker to turn things over to founder Herb Kelleher....

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
August 2, 2004... SERVICES Sapient rises on Q2 profit news The consulting and IT firm made 4 cents a share, beating views by 2 cents and reversing a year-ago loss of 4 cents a share. Revenues rose 45% to $64.5 mil, benefiting from more firms moving...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
August 2, 2004... MEDICAL Bristol-Myers to settle stock suit The drug maker agreed to pay $300 mil to settle a securities class-action suit accusing it of artificially boosting earnings. It'll pay the sum out of $470 mil in legal reserves previously set...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
August 2, 2004... FINANCE Dull market hits Deutsche Bank Profit at Germany's largest bank rose 15% to $792 mil, but missed views, as a plunge in trading income at its global investment bank dragged down results. Revenue at its corporate and investment...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
August 2, 2004... TECHNOLOGY Intel product problems boost rival The world's No. 1 chipmaker has told computer makers that it's not going to meet its year-end target for delivering a high-speed chip for desktop PCs, and expects to ship a 4GHz chip in Q1....

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
August 2, 2004... Conditions for long-term jobless The Labor Dept. said Friday that 65% of the 5.3 mil US workers laid off between Jan. '01 and Dec. '03 had found long-term jobs by Jan. '03. Another 15% left the labor force. It also said that of those who...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
August 2, 2004... Triumph Group shares fell 9% to 32.98 after it made 13 cents a share ex items in fiscal Q1, 73% below the year-ago quarter and 16 cents below views. The Washington Post made $8.82 a share, up 39.5% over the year-ago profit and 50 cents...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
August 2, 2004... 9-11 panel urges Senate to act Leaders of the Sept. 11 commission urged senators to embrace proposals for massive changes to the nation's intelligence structure, warning that bureaucratic wrangling leaves the U.S. vulnerable to terrorist...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
August 2, 2004... Pakistan leader survives attack Prime Minister-designate Shaukat Aziz survived an apparent suicide bombing of his motorcade that killed at least four people and injured two dozen. The attack in Islamabad came the same day the government...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
August 2, 2004... Artificial mad cow prion created Scientists at UC San Francisco created the first synthetic version of the altered protein believed to cause the brain-destroying mad cow disease, reports the journal Science. Mice injected with the altered...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
August 2, 2004... ** Consuming milk and meat from cloned animals should be safe for humans, says a National Academy of Sciences report. But it cautioned methods of determining how cloned animals affect health are still insufficient. The FDA has asked companies...

HOW YOU THINK IS EVERYTHING Nuke Stress With Focus.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
August 2, 2004... Byline: Cord Cooper 1Your boss just dumped a new project on your desk. He also changed your deadlines. Faster than you can say "migraine," you've got one. The pinched nerve in your neck is acting up. Your lower back feels like an...

Charles Houston's Right Fight; Stand Up: The civil-rights lawyer had the vision to stare down legalized segregation.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
August 2, 2004... Byline: JED GRAHAM Charles Hamilton Houston had already been dead for four years when the Supreme Court in 1954 unanimously ruled that "the doctrine of "separate but equal' has no place" in the field of public education. But Houston's...

Tech Firms Keep Eye On Acacia.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
August 2, 2004... Byline: PETE BARLAS Could there be a troll under the bridge of the Internet? That's the question surrounding Acacia Technologies Group, a unit of the holding company Acacia Research. The little-known firm says it owns the patent rights...

Google Bidders Grapple With Its Valuation; IPO May Fly This Week; Some analysts see likely initial price closer to low end of $108-$135 range.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
August 2, 2004... Byline: PETE BARLAS Even as they prepare to make bids, investors continue to ponder whether Google's IPO will be boon or boondoggle. Investment pros are divided on that question, but a fair number of doubters have surfaced. That's...

Microsoft CEO Ballmer To Any, All Rivals: Bring It On; Company Talking Tough Again; With most of its legal woes settled, software king vows to conquer new tech worlds.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
August 2, 2004... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ Microsoft has kissed and made up with enemies over its past anti-competitive behavior, but that doesn't mean Mr. Softy has gone soft. At the company's annual financial analyst meeting Thursday, Chief Executive...

New Servers May Shake Up $24 Bil Intel Gear Market.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
August 2, 2004... Byline: KEN SPENCER BROWN Three of the big four server makers are set to announce products powered by Intel's new Nocona chips, debuts that could further erode sales of pricy "big-iron" systems. It also may help Intel regain ground...

EXECUTIVE BRIEFING.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)
August 2, 2004... FIRST SURVEY SAYS Workers Changing Jobs More Often Human resources consulting firm Lee Hecht Harrison says the number of people switching jobs has increased for the fourth consecutive quarter. Lee Hecht Harrison executive...

No China Crisis For U.S. Business; But poor transportation and intellectual property theft remain obstacles.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)
August 2, 2004... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ When TCL-Thomson Electronics began operations Thursday, it overnight became the world's largest television maker. It also marked a new stage in the opening of China's market to Western companies. The new entity,...

Increasingly, Marketers Take Campaigns To The Streets; Special events play big role as consumers grow used to traditional media.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)(CHOICE WORDS)
August 2, 2004... Byline: MARILYN MUCH This season, Coca-Cola put a high-tech spin on its summer promotion. The soft drink maker issued more than 100 cans that can be converted into a global positioning system transponder and cell phone. Lucky customers...

MED BRIEFS.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)
August 2, 2004... FDA: Defibrillators Over Counter? Philips Electronics asked an FDA panel to allow use of the heart jump-start devices without a prescription. Philips makes an at-home defibrillator that currently requires a doctor's OK. Advisers say...

Stent Firm Resolves A Concern; But Other Risks Remain; Tudor: Boston Scientific has underlying matters that it needs to address.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)(Q & A)
August 2, 2004... Byline: GLORIA LAU Boston Scientific recalled 85,000 units of its drug-coated stent called Taxus DES last month. Since July 1, its shares plunged more than 21% to 33 before its strong second quarter earnings report on July 26 lifted...

Heart Failure Drug Offers Little Benefit In Mixed-Race Group; But A New Study Opens Doors; The latest data show BiDil, which contains nitric oxide, helps African Americans.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)
August 2, 2004... Byline: AMY REEVES When NitroMed recently announced that its heart-failure drug BiDil showed strong trial results, Wall Street smelled money. The stock price tripled the next week. That wasn't the only reason BiDil made news. It also...

Market-Leading Medical Stocks.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)
August 2, 2004... 1Amedisys IncOutpnt/Home CareAMED26.19-21.989898A618310052 The provider of home health-care services will report Q2 earnings this week. Analysts expect it to double last year's profit. 2S F B C Intl...

CHATTEM Chattanooga, Tennessee; Its Old Brand Names Get A Facelift With New Product Introductions.(THE NEW AMERICA)
August 2, 2004... Byline: MARILYN MUCH It's not easy to wow consumers when you make products that have been around for decades. Still, the folks at Chattem Inc. are giving it their best shot. The company makes and markets over-the-counter health care...

Tax Breaks Make Education Affordable; Back-To-School Season; Lifetime Learning Credit lets you cut your tax bill by up to $2,000 annually.(FUNDS & PERSONAL FINANCE)
August 2, 2004... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF With the arrival of August, student and parent thoughts drift casually toward the . . . well, Niagara Falls of education bills. As bills for the coming semester quickly pile up, so does the resolve to reduce them...

Missing In Action.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
August 2, 2004... Everywhere you looked at FleetCenter, you saw American flags and photos of Kerry as a young man in Vietnam. And time and again in his speech, Kerry returned to that experience. The idea, no doubt, was to reassure Americans in the middle of...

Can You Trust The National Media? Part 3.(SERIES: PART THREE IN A SERIES)(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
August 2, 2004... The first editorial in this series showed how different surveys at different times verified that 86% of journalists in America's most powerful national media vote Democratic in presidential elections and are far more liberal than our voting...

Empty Words, Toxic Rhetoric.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
August 2, 2004... Sober Americans recalled that neither quality was well stocked in his administration. From that moment on, ridiculous rhetoric rocked and rolled in Boston. Bad enough was the overplay of great American recordings. Convention planners...

Can't Anyone Recall?(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
August 2, 2004... No, Osama bin Laden is not in custody. But Khalid Sheik Mohammed, who planned and organized the 9-11 attacks, is. Can someone give Bush credit for capturing the monster responsible for that dark day? Mohammed was arrested in March 2003 by...

A Cosmopolite May Be Ticket For Insular U.S.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(ON THE LEFT)
August 2, 2004... Byline: DAVID IGNATIUS This elegant seaside village in Brittany is a place the Kerry campaign would probably rather have forgotten last week. The Democratic candidate's parents courted here, and the young John Kerry spent holidays...

All Is Not Well For Bush's GOP In Futures Polls.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(ON THE RIGHT)
August 2, 2004... Byline: LAWRENCE KUDLOW President Bush and Sen. John Kerry are in a virtual dead heat according to the Iowa Electronic Market -- a winner-take-all futures market with a great track record of picking victors (see chart on opposite page). At...

Advantage At This Point Is Bush's In A Tug-O-War For Middle Class.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(PERSPECTIVE)
August 2, 2004... Byline: RAGHAVAN MAYUR This election is shaping up as a battle for the hearts and minds of America's middle class -- the silent majority on whose backs the economic success of this country rests. At this point, George W. Bush -- the...

WEB WISE.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)
August 2, 2004... John Kerry's Speech There were passages toward the end when he . . . seemed to do better. But it was a B - performance, not as disastrous as Al Gore's rant in 2000, but nowhere near the level of the best. . . . Even Dole was better eight...

Who's Who In Oil & Gas -- Refining And Marketing Stocks ranked by a combined EPS and Relative Strength.(INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT)
August 2, 2004... 1Valero EnergyVLO929575.129722.944320.8322-2.856112.6 An independent refiner of fuels, oxygenates and other petroleum products. 2Giant IndustriesGI799924.55290.61870.47901381.1 Refines and markets petroleum products and operates a...

Energy In The Age Of Angst Harsh standards, aging refineries and global uncertainty drive reforms.(INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT)(OIL & GAS - REFINING AND MARKETING)
August 2, 2004... Byline: MONICA SHOWALTER As his refinery strained to meet surging demand for gas, Matt Clifton had to get creative. Clifton -- then vice president of strategic planning for Holly Corp. -- knew the company's Navajo refinery in New...

Energy Trade Group: Don't Call It Gouging; International events and lack of refinery capacity called real cause of hikes.(INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT)(Q & A)
August 2, 2004... Byline: MONICA SHOWALTER Every time there's a spike in oil prices, the cries of gouging begin. Consumer groups figure oil companies are taking advantage of gas buyers by sticking it to them at the pump. When those companies post...

Defense Stocks Holding Steady On Weekly List.(THE IBD 100)(INSIDE THE IBD 100)
August 2, 2004... Byline: NANCY GONDO Aerospace and defense stocks tend to do well during wars or prospects of war. This time around, although the Iraq War ended in the spring of 2003, defense-related names are still making the IBD 100 list. The defense...

THE IBD 100.(THE IBD 100)
August 2, 2004... 1TravelzooTZOO28.2715999999+189+167+167+687220760 Publishes travel specials on Net; 7.2 mil subscribers to newsletters, up from 1.9 mil 2 years ago. 2Ultra PetroleumUPL44.871999998+77+130+85+963558100 Oil and gas driller expands...

New Products, Better Execution Boost Safety Gear Firm's Earnings.(THE IBD 100)
August 2, 2004... Byline: DAVID ISAAC For Mine Safety Appliances, business is a matter of life and death. Just ask the Peruvian supply train driver, who, thanks to his MSA V-Gard helmet, survived a boulder that crashed through his locomotive. Or...

IBD'S WEEK IN REVIEW.(THE IBD 100)
August 2, 2004... Yukos Woes Light Fire Under Oil Prices 1 Light sweet crude near-term futures jumped 2.5% Friday to end at $43.80 a barrel at the Nymex, eclipsing Wednesday's 21-year high. But that's on a nominal basis. Adjusted for inflation, oil spiked...

THE IBD 100.(THE IBD 100)
August 2, 2004... 51Cognizant Tech ACTSH27.55u4959989+38+70+33+59272059 Like other India firms, IT services company rebounds from nation's election jitters for gains. 52Coventry Health CrCVH51.11u5989988+29+33+24+19318220 Report says premiums for...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(GENERAL MARKET & SECTORS)
August 2, 2004... 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...

Focus On The Market, Not Pundits To Find The Right Time To Buy.(MAKING MONEY)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
August 2, 2004... Byline: NANCY GONDO If we all could predict what will happen on Wall Street, we'd be retired and sitting by the beach with a drink in hand. But that's not the case. Sure, analysts can estimate a company's future earnings or profit...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Dow, S&P Rise, End Week With Decent Gains.(MAKING MONEY)
August 2, 2004... Byline: JONAH KERI NYSE stocks edged slightly higher Friday as a quiet session capped a decent week for stocks. The Dow and S&P 500 each rose 0.1%. The small-cap S&P 600 inched up 0.3%. For the week, the Dow climbed 1.8%, the S&P 500...

Armor, CEC Giving Bases Another Try.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
August 2, 2004... Byline: Jonah Keri Armor Holdings has formed an ascending step pattern over the last few months, capped by impressive leaps to new high ground each time. After the last such move in late May, though, the stock retreated below its 50-day...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Stocks Gain Ground, End String Of Down Weeks.(B)
August 2, 2004... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Stocks edged higher Friday amid mixed economic data and a spike in oil prices. The Nasdaq gained 0.3% in lighter trade, the large-cap Nasdaq 100 0.1%. The tech-heavy composite added 2.1% for the week to snap a four-week...

Medical Laser Maker Bounces Off 200-Day.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
August 2, 2004... Byline: Craig Shaw Palomar Medical Technologies posted a bullish reversal week on above-average turnover the week ended Friday. The stock undercut its 200-day support line during the week, but rallied back to close in the upper half of its...

IBD'S 20 RULES FOR INVESTMENT SUCCESS.(THE SMART INVESTOR)
August 2, 2004... A vital point is these rules are not based on our personal opinion, our beliefs or those of Wall Street's analysts and experts. Investor's Business Daily built models of the most successful stocks and investors of the last half-century. We...

New Products Gave Ballard Medical A Big Lift.(THE SMART INVESTOR)(WINNING WAYS)
August 2, 2004... Byline: KEN HOOVER In the bull market that began in October 1990, anything with "bio," "med" or "health" in its name took off like a rocket. It was like the bubble years of 1998 to 2000 when anything relating to the Internet ran up. ...

Bush Backs New Czar As One Of First Steps In Intelligence Revamp Acting On 9-11 Panel's Ideas Counterterrorism center, streamlining of oversight are also needed, he says.(A)
August 3, 2004... Byline: BRIAN MITCHELL President Bush on Monday asked Congress to act on three key recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission: the creation of a national intelligence czar and counterterrorism center, and the streamlining of Capitol Hill's...

NYSE Plan To Expand Electronic Trading Is Answer To Rivals, SEC, Big Investors Still A Place For Specialists Regulatory OK is needed for automatic execution of orders to be changed.(A)
August 3, 2004... Byline: KEN HOOVER With regulators and institutional traders pushing for change and its market share dropping, the NYSE proposed changes Monday that could boost electronic trading in listed stocks. New York Stock Exchange CEO John...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(A)(AFTER THE CLOSE)
August 3, 2004... FRANKLIN ADVISERS will pay $50 mil to settle charges it allowed rapid trading of its funds' shares, the SEC said. It's the latest settlement in the "market timing" scandal. PRICELINE.COM earned 32 cents a share in Q2, up 60% from a year ago...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
August 3, 2004... TECHNOLOGY Chip trade group sees slowdown Global chip sales rose 9.5% to $53.45 bil from Q1, boosted by memory chips and sales of personal computers, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. But growth should decelerate in...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
August 3, 2004... ENERGY Unocal trims production outlook The oil and gas producer's shares fell 4.5% to 37.05 after it scaled back its '04 production forecast from 425,000 barrels of oil equivalent daily to 400,000 BOE. Nevertheless, it forecast Q3 EPS...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
August 3, 2004... FINANCE Fifth Third to acquire Florida bank The No. 10 U.S. bank agreed to pay $1.58 bil for First National Bankshares. The deal would give Ohio-based Fifth Third 77 more branches in fast-growing Florida. The offer of 0.5065 a share or...

THE ECONOMY.(A)
August 3, 2004... Housing affordability falls in Q2 Families earning the median income had 133.6% of the funds needed to buy a median-priced home in Q2, down 10.5% from Q1's 144.1%, the National Association of Realtors said. Affordability fell to the lowest...

NATION.(A)
August 3, 2004... High court mulls sentencing rules The Supreme Court agreed to settle whether federal rules for sentencing criminals violate the Constitution. The high court said it will hear two cases suggested by the Bush administration. The Justice...

WORLD.(A)
August 3, 2004... Sudan army opposes U.N. troops The army vowed to fight any foreign military intervention in Darfur, even after the government reluctantly accepted a U.N. demand to end the killing in the region within 30 days. The World Food Program has...

Tupperware Creator Saw A Great Future In Plastics Innovate: Inventor Earl Tupper had to win over a public leery of the material, and what better way than to throw parties?(A)
August 3, 2004... Byline: SEAN HIGGINS What if you built a better mousetrap, and the public didn't beat a path to your door? That was the problem facing inventor and entrepreneur Earl Silas Tupper (1907-83). He created Tupperware, the handy, resealable...

DECIDE UPON YOUR TRUE DREAMS Golden Goal-Setting Tips.(A)(IBD 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
August 3, 2004... Byline: Amy Alexander 2To get ready for the 1976 Olympic decathlon, Bruce Jenner sprinted, jumped, jogged and vaulted to prepare his body. When it came to getting his head in the game, though, he came up with a visualization tool that he...

Dance Great Jerome Robbins Strive To Achieve: Hard work led to his show-stopping success on Broadway.(A)
August 3, 2004... Byline: CURT SCHLEIER Jerome Robbins knew that the proper attitude makes all the difference. As a young Broadway dancer, he unsuccessfully auditioned for play after play. The repeated rejection drained him. But he refused to give up....

E-Mail Phishing Expeditions Find Many Unwary Prey Studies find these scam e-mails hooking victims by better masking intent.(A)
August 3, 2004... Byline: DONNA HOWELL When Molly Seitel received an e-mail offer for a new credit card from what seemed to be a partner of her bank, she bit. In responding to the offer, the 38-year-old San Franciscan provided some personal information --...

Sarbanes Boosts Costs For Many Tech Firms Paying More To Boards.(A)
August 3, 2004... Byline: MIKE ANGELL Two years ago last week, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley law in response to abuses found at Enron, WorldCom and numerous firms with smaller accounting scandals. The law requires more independence for boards of...

Cox Communications Sees Its Shares Leap After Parent's Offer Cable Firm Would Go Private Move by Cox Enterprises seen as a confidence vote for embattled cable market.(A)
August 3, 2004... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE Shares in Cox Communications soared 20% Monday after its parent -- family-owned media firm Cox Enterprises -- made a surprise $7.9 billion offer to take the nation's fourth largest cable firm private. Other...

Steve Jobs Recovers After Surgery; Apple And Pixar Get Interim Bosses.(A)
August 3, 2004... Byline: AP As Steve Jobs began his recovery from cancer surgery, the charismatic chief executive of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios took care to reassure employees, friends and investors that he expects a full recovery. ...

Customer Focus A Priority For Cadence Design's New CEO.(A)(Q AND A)
August 3, 2004... Byline: JAMES DETAR In May, Cadence Design Systems named Michael Fister president and chief executive, and handed the former Intel executive a challenge. He isn't moving into a cushy job. Cadence, once the leading maker of software...

TRACTOR SUPPLY Nashville, Tennessee Big Spending Ahead For Upgrades, Stores.(A)
August 3, 2004... Byline: KIRK SHINKLE Looking for signs of a busy company? How about a new chief executive, a new store design and a slew of new store openings? All of that will take place at Tractor Supply during the coming months. Some of the moves...

GILLETTE Boston, Massachusetts Cost Cuts, Hit Products Give It A Sharp Edge.(A)
August 3, 2004... Byline: MARILYN ALVA Gillette has suffered some pretty nasty scrapes in the razor and blade business, though the company is now looking its sharpest in years. Results of a three-year operational overhaul to reduce costs are showing...

Several Value Managers Hoard Cash An Uncommon Practice They cite slim pickings in overpriced market; most still fully invested.(A)
August 3, 2004... Byline: KEN HOOVER A small group of value-oriented mutual fund managers can't find stocks that meet their investment criteria, so they're holding a sizable stash of cash. "We're certainly willing to hold cash to the extent we can't...

On The Rise.(A)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
August 3, 2004... Economy: Pundits and politicians keep talking about the fragile U.S. "recovery." They should know better. This isn't a recovery; it's an expansion. This isn't just a quibble. One side in the political debate has much to gain if economic...

Richard M. Kerry.(A)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
August 3, 2004... Iraq: The Democratic nominee says he has a plan -- that he won't detail -- to bring troops home. But what could he do that isn't being tried already? Voters of a certain age may remember a presidential candidate who ran with what he let...

Buying A Stock On The Way Down Can Cause Big Losses.(B)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
August 3, 2004... Byline: JONAH KERI Every day, millions of investors get it wrong. Yet it's one of the simplest paths to success in investing: Buy on the way up, not the way down. Through decades of market research, IBD has found the same patterns...

Fifth Straight Up Session For Dow, S&P 500.(B)
August 3, 2004... Byline: NANCY GONDO NYSE stocks fell early Monday amid warnings of possible terror attacks against U.S. financial institutions, but rose throughout the day. The Dow, helped by strong earnings from Procter & Gamble, gained 0.4% for its...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(B)
August 3, 2004... 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...

C.R. Bard Moving Up Near 50-Day Average.(B)
August 3, 2004... Byline: Nancy Gondo C.R. Bard, which has cleared a series of fairly short consolidations the past 18 months, marked a new high June 1. It hit a new intraday high the next month, but closed near the bottom of that day's range. Volume was...

Nasdaq Up In Light Trade As Breakouts Emerge.(B)
August 3, 2004... Byline: JONAH KERI The Nasdaq ticked slightly higher Monday in quiet trade. The tech-laden index edged up 0.3%, the Nasdaq 100 0.4% as volume rose slightly from Friday's calm level. American Healthways broke out of a 21-week base,...

Autodesk Pulls Back After Twofold Gains.(B)
August 3, 2004... Byline: Jonah Keri Autodesk has surged more than twofold since notching a 52-week high in August. The stock peaked on July 1 and since formed a shallow pattern. A flat base need only last five weeks or more, with a correction of less than...

Consumers Pulled Back On Spending In June As Pricey Gas Pinched; 0.7% Dip Is Worst Since 9-11; But early July auto sales boost economists' hopes drop will prove temporary.(A)
August 4, 2004... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE Consumer spending, crimped by higher oil prices, logged its biggest drop in nearly three years in June. But analysts predicted spending will bounce back soon to a level that would support moderate third-quarter...

Was Microsoft Payout A Hedge Against A Kerry Victory In Nov.?; Possible tax-rate boost may have been factor, some watchers believe.(A)
August 4, 2004... Byline: J. BONASIA Microsoft's decision to return $75 billion to shareholders through dividends and a stock buyback no doubt followed lengthy number-crunching. Experts on Wall Street say election-year jitters may have played into the...