Investor's Business Daily articles from December 2002, page 5

Investor's Business Daily archives from December 2002

Learning To Keep On Beat With The Market.(B)
December 16, 2002... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG Investing for big gains and a career in rock 'n' roll? They seem to go together as well as spreading bubble gum on a bagel. But if you think people who thrive in the musical spotlight couldn't possibly have...

Big Contracts Filled Sails Of Wind River.(B)
December 16, 2002... Byline: KEN HOOVER Wind River Systems had carved out a nice niche for itself when it started its big move in 1995. It created software-based operating systems for embedded systems. You found them in VCRs, fax machines, anti-lock brakes...

Lott Vows To Stay On, Learn From Mistakes In Newest Mea Culpa; His Position Seems Secure; No GOP colleagues call for him to step down as Senate's majority leader.(A)
December 16, 2002... Byline: SEAN HIGGINS Embattled Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said Friday he would not step down as Senate majority leader despite growing criticism from both parties. "I am not about to resign for an accusation that I am something I am...

Optimism Up, Prices Not, Yet Good News Fails To Help Sagging Stocks And Dollar; Markets Focusing Elsewhere.(A)
December 16, 2002... Byline: JED GRAHAM A rise in consumer sentiment and a jump in crude materials prices in reports out Friday gave evidence of a strengthening economy. But the news failed to cheer investors, who sold off stocks, bonds and the dollar...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
December 16, 2002... Lott Is Sorry Again, Will Hang In 1The chastened Senate majority leader said he would not step down despite growing criticism from both parties. Lott, R-Miss., defended himself against charges of racial insensitivity, but apologized again...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
December 16, 2002... DEFENSE Pentagon OKs big weapons plans Major weapons programs such as Lockheed Martin's F/A-22 fighter and a Northrop Grumman aircraft carrier are still in the military's long-term budget, Bloomberg reported, citing a Pentagon...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
December 16, 2002... CONSUMER Diageo sells Burger King for less The British spirits maker struck a deal to sell the burger chain to a group led by Texas Pacific for $1.5 bil. Diageo will get $1.2 bil cash to cut debt and buy back shares. Diageo in July...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
December 16, 2002... Cadbury is the favorite bidder for candy maker Adams as the auction process enters what could be its final week. Adams owner Pfizer wants to finish a deal by Christmas. The EU will extend its review of France Telecom's proposed $9 bil...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
December 16, 2002... ** Government health inspections have led to fewer gastrointestinal illnesses on cruise ships, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The 21 outbreaks in '02 may be due to more passengers. ** An agent called hemoglobin...

Consumer Research Is His Bag; Know Your Market: Coach's Frankfort understands his business, clientele.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
December 16, 2002... Byline: MARILYN MUCH Lew Frankfort likes to have his fingers on the pulse of his business. The way he sees it, the more you know about what makes your business and customers tick, the more you're likely to gain an edge over your...

TECHBITS.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
December 16, 2002... Byline: Mike Angell and James DeTar You Need Better E-Mail Security You'd expect unsolicited e-mails from the likes of Renzullo804137 and Dow926264jr174 to be the usual assortment of spam pitching cheap Viagra, online porn and low...

New Tactics Could Stave Off Digital Pirates; But Consumers Gripe; Copy protection limits what they're able to do with purchased material.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
December 16, 2002... Byline: DONNA HOWELL In the new world of copy-protected software, movies and music, things have changed for the end user. Windows, for instance, won't open for just anyone. At least not Windows XP. Software and entertainment media...

Lycos Shedding Ads From Its HotBot Page; Move Could Be Risky Gamble; Advertising on start page is big source of revenue, but Lycos wants less clutter.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
December 16, 2002... Byline: PETE BARLAS Terra Lycos is trying a new strategy for making money on the Web -- a start page with no ads. On Monday, Terra Lycos, one of the most visited portals on the Web, will relaunch its HotBot search engine with...

New Tiny Technology From IBM And Xilinx Could Yield Big Gains; 90-Nanometer Chip Process; Companies to unveil plans to make circuitry on chips far smaller than it is today.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
December 16, 2002... Byline: JAMES DETAR Xilinx Inc. and IBM Corp. plan to unveil a milestone Monday that could lead to cheaper, better electronics products: a chip made using a 90-nanometer process. Most chipmakers today use lines -- etched circuitry --...

Hey! Get Off That Web Site!; ID The Cyberslackers; 8e6 CEO says filtering system helps clients save money, avoid lawsuits.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(Q & A)
December 16, 2002... Byline: KEN SPENCER BROWN Most employees hate getting a "Web site blocked" message from their company's filtering system, but 8e6 Technologies Chief Executive George Shih figures he's doing them a favor. The privately held Orange,...

PACTIV CORP. Lake Forest, Illinois; Manufacturer Bags A Big Deal In Mexico.(THE NEW AMERICA)
December 16, 2002... Byline: AMY REEVES As Mexico has opened its trade to the U.S. over the years, Mexicans have been consuming more and more American stuff. As long as that's happening, officials at Pactiv Corp. figure, Mexico will need more packaging...

KEY FUND HOLDINGS.(MUTUAL FUNDS)
December 16, 2002... Key Fund Holdings / Safeco was a top buy of PBHG Mid Cap Value Fund. It's 8% off its Oct. 28 high of 38. Earnings per share rose to 37 cents from a 26-cent loss in the June quarter and to 55 cents from a $1.16 loss in the September quarter....

Gold Funds Continue Strong Rebound; Soar 15.31% In 2 Weeks; Small-cap value funds return 0.36%, beating large and growth funds.(MUTUAL FUNDS)
December 16, 2002... Byline: DAN MOREAU Investors lit a fire under gold stocks last week, sending gold funds up 8.24% in the five days ended Thursday, Lipper Inc. said. They'd risen 7.07% the week before. The precious metal took up the slack as the broad...

LETTERS.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)
December 16, 2002... A Setback To Overcome I want to applaud IBD for "Not Lott," which correctly concluded that Trent Lott must go as the Senate's Republican leader. His comments at Sen. Strom Thurmond's birthday party were certainly politics and thinking...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Light Volume Marks Second Down Week.(MAKING MONEY)
December 16, 2002... Byline: CRAIG SHAW NYSE stocks wrapped up their second straight week of losses Friday, but tame volume cushioned the damage. The Dow slipped 1.2% from Thursday, the S&P 500 1.3%. For the week, the benchmark S&P fell 2.5%. Cooper...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Wipes Out Gains; Techs, Medicals Lose.(B)
December 16, 2002... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG The Nasdaq dropped 2.7% Friday to finish lower for the second straight week. Volume was below average for the seventh straight session. Gilead Sciences gapped down 1.70 to 35.68 on nearly five times average...

NO TIME, NO PROBLEM.(THE SMART INVESTOR)
December 16, 2002... In just 15 minutes a day, IBD keeps you on top of the market. Scan Internet & Technology and The New America for promising companies. Then turn to the NYSE and Nasdaq Where The Big Money's Flowing. Focus on the boldfaced market-leading...

Monitor The Market With Facts.(A)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
December 13, 2002... Byline: JONAH KERI Creating a daily ritual is an excellent way to stay on top of the market and its leading industries and stocks. You'll do well to start your routine with a stroll through the General Market & Sectors page. A...

Retail Sales Climb 5% Outside Auto Segment, Defy Slowdown Fears Nov. Monthly Tally Up 0.4% First-time jobless claims show unexpected jump in usual holiday volatility.(A)
December 13, 2002... Byline: JED GRAHAM Consumers showed no signs of pulling back in November and once again surprised Wall Street. Retail sales rose 0.4% in the month, the Commerce Department said Thursday. But excluding a 0.1% dip in auto sales, sales...

Phone, Cable Cos. Use Bundling To Keep Users From Switching They lock in customers with Internet services, make quitting tougher.(A)
December 13, 2002... Byline: NICK TURNER As cable TV providers embark on another round of rate hikes, there's speculation many customers will defect to satellite services. But behavior of consumers is often hard to predict. Price is just one factor they...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(A)(AFTER THE CLOSE)
December 13, 2002... EDS won a $4.5 bil, 10-year Bank of America IT outsourcing deal, above analyst estimates. EDS will hire 1,000 BofA IT workers. HERSHEY will buy back $500 mil, or 7%, of shares out. The candy maker also added $150 mil to its underfunded...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
December 13, 2002... TELECOM GEAR Ciena jumps 20% on smaller loss The networking gear maker lost 15 cents a share in Q4, slightly better than analyst views for a 17-cent loss. Including charges, Ciena lost $1.75 bil vs. last year's $5.51 bil deficit....

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
December 13, 2002... RETAIL Autozone falls 8% as sales slow The No. 1 U.S. auto parts retailer earned $1.04 a share in Q1, up 37% from a year ago and 9 cents above views. Sales rose slightly to $1.22 bil from $1.18 bil. But same-store sales were up just...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
December 13, 2002... MEDICAL Amgen sees '03 net above views The biotech expects $1.70-$1.80 a share on strong sales of its cancer and anemia drugs. Analysts expect $1.65. Amgen says it'll be able to make more of its Enbrel arthritis drug in Q1 than...

THE ECONOMY.(A)
December 13, 2002... Trade deficit unexpectedly dips In its first drop in a year, the U.S. current account gap shrank to $127 bil in Q3 from Q2's record $127.6 bil. Economists expected a deficit of $132 bil. The current account balance is the broadest measure...

NATION.(A)
December 13, 2002... Cardinal subpoenaed in scandal Cardinal Bernard Law, facing more calls to resign, was subpoenaed to answer a grand jury's questions about apparent cover-ups of priests sexually abusing children. Seven aides, all bishops, were also...

WORLD.(A)
December 13, 2002... Suicide squads for Afghanistan Al-Qaida operatives train them in Pakistan and bombers' families are promised $50,000, said Afghan and Pakistani sources. Pakistan denies the presence of camps there. But intelligence and police sources...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(A)
December 13, 2002... Executive search demand shifts In the first three quarters of '02, demand in the software security industry surged 300%, consumer products 188%, health care and life sciences 115% and optical 92%, executive search firm Christian &...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(A)
December 13, 2002... ** El Nino will bring a warmer winter to the northern U.S. and more southern storms through spring, government forecasters said. But the Midwest drought may worsen. ** Family doctors are more likely than pediatricians to schedule extra...

BE PERSISTENT AND WORK HARD There Are No Handicaps.(A)(IBD 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
December 13, 2002... Byline: Cord Cooper 5Earlier this year, we listed characteristics of people who've succeeded despite great odds. Here are a few more traits of achievers, which all of us can develop. ** They replace fear with focus. Though he...

Stay Attuned To Your Market Innovate: Record producer Asch cataloged sound to give folks what they wanted.(A)
December 13, 2002... Byline: MIKE ANGELL To Moses "Moe" Asch, Southern folk singers, North American frogs and a man buying a dog all had something in common: They needed to be heard. Asch wanted to be the man to make that happen. Thanks to him, all...

TECHBITS.(A)
December 13, 2002... Byline: Mike Angell Japanese Finding Some Creative Uses For Camera Phone Gear Japanese consumers have always been considered at the vanguard of technology. After all, Japan has the world's first 3G cellular phone network,...

Dell Says It's Ready For Industry Rebound It Grew Through Slump Computer firm has lured rival customers, forged EDS and EMC alliances.(A)
December 13, 2002... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ During the tech spending downturn of the last two years, Dell Computer Corp. has diligently prepared itself for the eventual recovery. The computer maker has grabbed market share from others and forged new...

Nigerian Plea Remains One Of Net's Worst Scams Scam Has Long History Secret Service estimates it's netted up to $20M from unsuspecting folks.(A)
December 13, 2002... Byline: MICHAEL KREY The subject line of the e-mail received by this reporter on Thanksgiving sounded like trouble, and was. "Please i (sic) need your help," read the line. Sure enough, I saw that, for my first time ever, I'd been a...

Sprint's 2003 Vision: Cost Cuts Will Bring Slightly Higher Profit Long-Distance Revenue To Fall Overhaul of wireless unit will help boost cash flow as sales grow more slowly.(A)
December 13, 2002... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE Sprint Corp. says it'll eke out higher profit in 2003 by slashing costs and trimming debt, despite a midsingle-digit decline in long-distance service revenue. Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint Thursday became...

Business Customers Buoy Nextel CEO: Market Share Up Donahue says rivals will fall short in attempts to match "push to talk".(A)(Q AND A)
December 13, 2002... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE Name a U.S. phone carrier whose stock is up in 2002. That's a short list. Make that a very short list. But contrary to what many pundits predicted, Nextel Communications Inc. is on it. Shares in Nextel...

Better Display Screens Exist But Remain Too Costly OLED as a technology looks superior to LCDs in laptops, cell phones.(A)
December 13, 2002... Byline: MIKE ANGELL A new technology promises to make cell phone and handheld computer screens brighter, more colorful and easier to see. Now, if it could only be less expensive, last longer and use less power. The technology --...

HI-TECH PHARMACAL INC. Amityville, N.Y. Following The Money Keeps These Guys Fit One Focus Is Diabetes As more people get the illness, suppliers eyeball new products to treat it.(A)
December 13, 2002... Byline: GLORIA LAU Where there's a medical problem, there's money to be made. Diabetes is a case in point. Three years ago it was estimated that there were 14 million diabetics in the U.S., says Dr. Gene Barrett, president-elect of...

OMNIVISION TECHNOLOGIES INC. Sunnyvale, California Chipmaker Gets The Picture About Cameras.(A)
December 13, 2002... Byline: AMY REEVES It's lonely being a chipmaker in Silicon Valley. Where once you were surrounded by tech start-ups, now you see a lot of empty office space. But it's better to be lonely than dead. Just ask the folks at...

Meridian Growth Feeds Scraps To Bear Reasonable Prices Key Now fund is pursuing beaten-down techs with leadership traits.(A)
December 13, 2002... Byline: NANCY GONDO Meridian Growth lagged most of its small-growth peers in the late '90s, but when the market went south in '00 it became one of the leaders. Manager Richard Aster stuck with his growth-at-a-reasonable-price, or...

The Supply Side.(A)(EDITORIALS)
December 13, 2002... Stocks: The proverbial "wall of worry" most markets are supposed to climb may be the least of this market's problems. It also has a mountain of supply to overcome. This becomes more evident each time the market tries to sustain a rally....

Secrecy Sideshow.(A)(EDITORIALS)
December 13, 2002... Energy: White House foes still see the closed meetings of a long-gone task force as a live issue. But they're focused more on politics than principle. Some Democrats and their eco-lobby allies really want us to care about what was...

Is U.S. Evidence Against Iraq Solid Enough To Start War?(A)(NATIONAL ISSUE)
December 13, 2002... Byline: PETER BENESH The U.S. has the firepower, hardware and troops to defeat Iraq in war. Proving the case for war is the challenge. Thursday's Washington Post report that al-Qaida got VX nerve gas from Iraq via Turkey shows how...

NYSE Stocks Slump; Auto Retailers Skid.(B)
December 13, 2002... Byline: CRAIG SHAW NYSE stocks broke their brief win streak Thursday, posting moderate declines after two days of gains. The Dow fell 0.6%, the S&P 500 0.4%. Volume stayed below average. AutoZone crashed through its 200-day average,...

Carpet Manufacturer Rounding Out Base.(B)
December 13, 2002... Byline: Craig Shaw Mohawk Industries continues to build the right side of its 30-week base. It found support at its 200-day moving average Tuesday to resume its climb. Its 52% run-up from its last base meets the definition of a prior...

Electronics Shares Circuit Higher; Gold Rocks.(B)
December 13, 2002... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG The Nasdaq staged its second straight gain under 1% Thursday, this time up 0.2%. Volume stayed tame. Nam Tai Electronics flew ahead 1.93 on nearly four times normal volume to 26.95, a four-year high. Its...

British Vaccine Firm Has Hot Sales Growth.(B)
December 13, 2002... Byline: David Saito-Chung Acambis surged to new highs in late September last year following the 9-11 attack and gained as much as 175%. The stock is now working on the right side of its base, but is still trading in the base's lower...

Weekly Review Spots Top Stocks.(A)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
December 12, 2002... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG The Earnings Per Share and Relative Price Strength Ratings both use scales of 1 to 99. Easy enough. Hey, even kids can quickly judge a strong stock from a weak one. What might not be so easy for the new...

Tax Cuts On Dividends To Provide Little Punch As Economic Stimulus Good Policy Move -- Sure But benefits to economy and even stock markets are questioned by some.(A)
December 12, 2002... Byline: JED GRAHAM Paying out dividends to shareholders was frowned upon during the great '90s bull market. Now the Bush administration is considering ending, or at least curbing, the double taxation of dividends as part of a new...

Board Remake At Disney Keeps Eisner Critics At Bay -- For Now Will better governance produce better results at struggling company?(A)
December 12, 2002... Byline: DOUG TSURUOKA Media mogul Michael Eisner is taking a page from a Hollywood Western. The Walt Disney chairman and CEO is circling the wagons as pressure mounts to improve the company's performance. Eisner, 60, has been...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(A)(AFTER THE CLOSE)
December 12, 2002... HALLIBURTON will pay $4.2 bil in cash and stock to settle asbestos suits, Bloomberg reported. The oil services firm, which got an asbestos hearing delayed to Friday, rose after hours. PROCTER & GAMBLE sees core Q2 profit growth in the...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
December 12, 2002... TELECOM Sprint set to cut 2,100 more jobs The long-distance firm is cutting 2.8% of staff on top of the 1,600 full-time workers and 500 contractors Sprint said in Nov. it would let go. It'll take an $85 mil Q4 charge, but says it'll...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
December 12, 2002... CONSUMER Toro cuts through Q4 profit views The lawn-mower maker earned 31 cents a share ex-items to beat views by 4 cents, nearly double last year's EPS. Sales fell 3% to $275.4 mil. But golf-course maintenance gear did well, helping...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
December 12, 2002... MEDIA Dow Jones ups Q4 profit outlook The publisher of The Wall Street Journal and other financial publications expects to earn 20 cents a share. That's 42% below a year ago, but 3 cents over analyst views. Dow Jones said Nov. ad...

THE ECONOMY.(A)
December 12, 2002... Progress made on governance U.S. banks and corporations have corrected some of their governance problems, Richard Spillenkothen, director of the Federal Reserve's division of banking supervision and regulation, told a Senate committee....

NATION.(A)
December 12, 2002... FDA's new chief is talking tough The agency will act faster to stop misleading drug ads and target firms that repeatedly make false promises, new commissioner Mark McClellan said. He also singled out dietary supplements. Ads aimed at...

WORLD.(A)
December 12, 2002... Two key doves quit Israel Labor Veteran peace campaigners Yossi Beilin and Yael Dayan quit the Labor Party after a primary vote assigned them and other doves to virtually unelectable places on the list of candidates in the Jan. 28...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(A)
December 12, 2002... Cash-poor states go to derivatives The use of derivative contracts has doubled this year as U.S. state and local governments increasingly use them to offset a sharp drop in tax revenues, Wall Street experts say. Derivatives, financial...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(A)
December 12, 2002... ** Estrogen-containing drugs and UV light were added as possible cancer-causing agents to a U.S. government report. Wood dust and 15 other compounds were also added for a total of 228 compounds. ** Consumers who reported problems...

Beware The Autocrat.(A)(IBD 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
December 12, 2002... Byline: Robin Grugal 4It's one thing to be self-confident. It's quite another to think you have all the answers. Known as autocrats, such folks are good at pushing ideas, orders and strategies down into the ranks of their...

Teller Has A Tenacious Mind Be Determined: Resolve keeps this physicist on science's leading edge.(A)
December 12, 2002... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON Edward Teller sat on the brink of a new age -- in a basement. Teller was in a cellar room at the University of California, Berkeley, watching a seismograph to monitor an explosion about to begin. On that...

Online Discounters Revel In Low-Budget Holiday.(A)
December 12, 2002... Byline: PETE BARLAS The economy's bad. More people are shopping online. Those two facts are adding up to a mighty tasty holiday pie for online bargain-basement retailers. Web retailers that specialize in providing bare-knuckle...

Seagate IPO Fails To Drive Much Interest Shares Open, Close At 11.50 Disk drive field recovering from years of price wars, but it's still seen as risky.(A)
December 12, 2002... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON Seagate Technology Inc. may be No. 1 in disk drives, but its initial public offering put on a second-rate performance Wednesday. The company had planned to sell 72.5 million shares between $13 and $15 each. But...

DirecTV Has HP Beaming Hewlett-Packard Hired Computer maker aims to push into high ranks of tech services players.(A)
December 12, 2002... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN Services, services, services. That was a Hewlett-Packard Co. mantra when it extolled the need to buy Compaq Computer. Like rival IBM Corp., HP wants to boost services as price competition erodes profit margins...

New Fund Has A Taste For Chips.(A)
December 12, 2002... Byline: JAMES DETAR Way back in, say, October, before the recent semiconductor stock rally, some might have thought it foolish to start a venture fund for chip start-ups. But the founders of Tallwood Venture Capital figure there's...

Agilent Relying On Diversification To Drive '03 Recovery.(A)(Q AND A)
December 12, 2002... Byline: JAMES DETAR It's been quite a year for Ned Barnholt, the 35-year Hewlett-Packard Co. veteran who in 1999 guided Agilent Technologies Inc.'s spinoff from HP. On Oct. 17, the American Electronics Association awarded him its...

MEDTRONIC INC. Minneapolis, Minnesota Medical Device Maker Gets Some Good News Thanks To Trial Results They came from another firm, but could increase its sales of heart devices.(A)
December 12, 2002... Byline: KIRK SHINKLE One company's good news might turn into even better news for Medtronic Inc., which makes heart defibrillators, pacemakers and other medical gear. On Nov. 21, the company learned that medical device maker Guidant...

CHOICE HOTELS INTERNATIONAL INC. Silver Spring, Maryland Hotel Franchiser: No Economic Reservations Travel Slump Is No Big Deal While the hotel industry is feeling pain, this company's system ensures solid gains.(A)
December 12, 2002... Byline: MARILYN ALVA Many Americans have lost the will or means to travel, and hotels are paying the price. Hotel demand in the U.S. dropped 3.6% last year after growing 3.7% in 2000, says Bjorn Hanson, who leads...

Miller Nears 12th Year Topping Bogey Fund Got More Tyco Telecom, Net and HMO stocks helped to fuel Value Trust's 2002 run.(A)
December 12, 2002... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF The $9.5 billion Legg Mason Value Trust is on the verge of extending the fund industry's longest winning streak. Going into Wednesday, the fund had lost 17% for the year. The S&P 500's loss was 20%. With only...

SEC Pushes Faster Disclosure Seeks Quarterly Filings But some funds worry data would help rivals front-run their moves.(A)
December 12, 2002... Byline: DAN MOREAU Mutual fund investors could get a more current look at their funds' holdings under new rules under study by the five-member Securities and Exchange Commission. Under the new rules, funds would have to file complete...

Not Lott.(A)(EDITORIALS)
December 12, 2002... Politics: Sen. Trent Lott had a chance to apologize and explain his remarks that were taken by many as bigoted. But he squandered it and now must pay the price. Americans are nearly always willing to give others a second chance. Most...

Love Or Leadership?(A)(EDITORIALS)
December 12, 2002... Global Poll: U.S. popularity is showing signs of slipping across the planet, but the world isn't looking for a new superpower to challenge America. They hate us in Pakistan and love us in Uzbekistan. Go figure. Both are Muslim countries...

Fight Against Biotech Foods -- Is Real Target Free Trade?(A)(NATIONAL ISSUE)
December 12, 2002... Byline: HENRY I. MILLER ** Henry Miller The new biotechnology, or gene-splicing, applied to agriculture and food has a tough row to hoe. Beleaguered by activists, overregulated and rejected even by Third World countries wracked by...

Stocks Notch Uptick As Trade Stays Tame.(B)
December 12, 2002... Byline: CRAIG SHAW NYSE stocks edged higher after a see-saw session Wednesday for their first consecutive pair of up days since Nov. 21. The Dow rose 0.2%, the S&P 500 0.1%. Volume fell below average for the fifth straight session. ...

Coating Products Firm Paints Pretty Uptrend.(B)
December 12, 2002... Byline: Craig Shaw Valspar Corp. keeps climbing the right side of its 29-week base, logging gains eight out of the past nine weeks. It's back above its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, just 4% off its high. The Minneapolis-based...

Nasdaq Edges Higher, But Traders Act Gun-Shy.(B)
December 12, 2002... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG The Nasdaq edged up 0.4% on below-average trade Wednesday. It was up as much as 1.2% intraday. A few tech leaders outperformed the market once again. Verint Systems zoomed up 1.67 to 18.52 on nearly double...

Security Software Firm Rides Wave Of Growth.(B)
December 12, 2002... Byline: David Saito-Chung Symantec shot ahead to new highs in the weeks ended Nov. 15 and Nov. 22. But as the weekly chart to the right shows, those weeks came on below-average volume. For a more detailed view, see the stock's weekly...

Seagate IPO Fails To Drive Much Interest; Shares Open, Close At 11.50; Disk drive field recovering from years of price wars, but it's still seen as risky.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
December 12, 2002... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON Seagate Technology Inc. may be No. 1 in disk drives, but its initial public offering put on a second-rate performance Wednesday. The company had planned to sell 72.5 million shares between $13 and $15 each. But...

Watch What Leading Funds Buy.(A)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
December 11, 2002... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Smart investors buy breakout stocks because they're in demand by mutual funds. Following in the tracks of these market-moving institutions gives you the best odds of growing your portfolio. So doesn't it make sense...