Investor's Business Daily articles from January 2005

Investor's Business Daily archives from January 2005

Social Security Tops Bush's 2005 Agenda; Tax, Tort Reform Key; Speed is of the essence to pass 2nd-term ideas through wary Congress.(A)
January 3, 2005... Byline: JED GRAHAM President Bush enters 2005 with a domestic agenda as far-reaching as any since Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs. Reforming Social Security and the tax code are among his top priorities, joining efforts...

Bush's Election Win Beats Competition For Top Story Of '04.(A)(THE YEAR'S TOP 10)
January 3, 2005... Picking our No. 1 news story for 2004 was simple: President Bush's victory over Democratic challenger John Kerry in November's election. Nos. 2 through 10 were the problem. Many strong choices didn't make the cut because, after all, it's a Top...

MARKET TOOL BAR.(A)
January 3, 2005... S&P 500 INDEX 1211.92 -1.63 (-0.1%) Index finishes year with a 9% advance DOW JONES IND. 10,783.01 -17.29 (-0.2%) Blue chip index lags with a 3% gain in '04 NYSE VOL .(MIL) 788 -41...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
January 3, 2005... U.S. Boosts Tsunami Aid Tenfold 1President Bush pledged $350 mil in disaster relief to nations from Indonesia to Somalia ravaged by a quake-spawned tsunami. Bush also said the U.S. would likely increase aid further. Global gov'ts have...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
January 3, 2005... GLOBAL CHIP SALES rose 1.3% to $19.02 bil in Nov. vs. Oct., said the Semiconductor Industry Assoc. But sales fell 1.6% in the Americas as companies outsourced manufacturing to Asia. LOCKHEED MARTIN won 2 contracts worth $716 mil to continue...

BUSINESS BRIEFS/IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
January 3, 2005... FINANCE Global underwriting hits new high Companies worldwide issued $5.69 tril in bonds, stocks and equity-related securities in '04, up 6.2% from '03 as a rebound in the equity markets stoked volumes, said Thomson Financial. U.S....

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
January 3, 2005... METALS Steel stocks shine as worries ease AK Steel rose 4% to 14.47 and Oregon Steel Mills climbed 5% to 20.29, leading the sector higher after plunging a day earlier over concerns that slowing China growth could result in an...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
January 3, 2005... MEDICAL FDA OKs Pfizer nerve pain drug Lyrica, which eases sharp pains in the extremities related to diabetes or shingles, will be marketed to about 3 mil U.S. diabetics who will develop nerve damage and an estimated 150,000 shingles...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
January 3, 2005... INTERNET Ctrip to refund tsunami-hit plans The Chinese operator of a hotel and airline booking Web site will unconditionally refund its customers impacted by the weekend's tsunami in coastal South Asia. Ctrip.com customers who bought...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
January 3, 2005... Oil ends year ahead, but off peak Oil futures finished '04 at $43.45 a barrel, 34% higher than a year ago but well short of the all-time high of $55.67 it notched in late Oct. New York markets were closed Friday. After climbing for much of...

TRENDS/INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
January 3, 2005... Men prefer subordinate women Men would rather marry their female assistants than their female equals or bosses, a survey published in Evolution and Human Behavior reported. Researchers suggested this was linked to a desire to dominate...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
January 3, 2005... Study: Urban slayings fell in '04 Homicides fell sharply in Chicago from 600 in '03 to 445 in '04, according to an AP survey. Other large cities, including New York and Washington, had smaller declines. More aggressive patroling was...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
January 3, 2005... Basque vote challenges Madrid In the stiffest challenge to Spain's government in 25 years, the Basque regional parliament approved a proposal for virtual independence, a move backed by the political wing of the Basque terrorist group ETA....

HOW YOU THINK IS EVERYTHING Resolve To Achieve Goals.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Cord Cooper 1 It seems like yesterday that we were worrying about Y2K. Now the decade's half over. The point? Time is slipping by. So ask yourself this question: What progress are you making toward long-term goals? This...

Keeping Their Firms On Top; The Best Of 2004: Flexibility, innovation put these CEOs at the head of the class.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
January 3, 2005... Byline: IBD STAFF 2004 was an up-and-down year for business. The sale of durable goods was up, but retail wasn't as strong as expected toward year's end and home sales dipped. Add in the fact that U.S. troops remain in Iraq, and the...

Mergers, Dot-Com Resurgence Marked 2004; Google IPO Riveted Investors; Oracle-PeopleSoft drama came to a close, and Net phone calls got a foothold.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
January 3, 2005... Byline: IBD STAFF 2004 brought a new sense of optimism to the tech industry -- even the beleaguered dot-com field. Google's initial public offering got investors excited about the Internet again. And with another record holiday season,...

Medium Called Blogs Gets Media Attention; Web logs become force in reporting and shaping news, events worldwide.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
January 3, 2005... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON The Internet has changed the nature of many things, including the travel business, matchmaking, gambling, retailing and auctions. In 2004, the power of the Internet put its spin on the mainstream media. To be sure,...

Phone Calls Via Internet Not Unusual; VoIP Goes Mainstream.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
January 3, 2005... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE Entrepreneur Jeffrey Pulver is finally seeing the Internet phone market blossom. It's been a long time coming. Pulver began dabbling in the field nearly a decade ago. Early on, he developed software that...

Online Search Engines Found The (Ad) Money; Consumers, advertisers both gain with services from Google and others.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
January 3, 2005... Byline: PETE BARLAS Internet search companies found success in 2004, but they face challenges this year ranging from escalating ad prices to changes in consumer behavior to a possible attempt by Microsoft to dominate the sector. As...

Big '05 Play In Video Games: New Xbox; Microsoft Wants To Get Jump; Solid growth in games for cell phones, other mobile devices highlighted 2004.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
January 3, 2005... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ Mobile gaming was the top story in the video game industry last year and will continue to be a big deal this year. But the headline grabbers in 2005 likely will be the next generation of living-room game consoles...

Security Issues Linger As Net's Trouble Spot; Worms, Viruses, Spam, More; But tech "police' making an impact in fighting bad guys bent on mischief, or worse.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
January 3, 2005... Byline: DONNA HOWELL Jenny Craig slimmed down. The weight loss company developed bulging e-mail in-boxes from a too-high spam intake. Now it uses outside help -- a spam-fighting service -- to cut the fat. That's a tactic many firms...

Last Year's IPO Rally Should Linger In 2005.(THE NEW AMERICA)
January 3, 2005... Byline: MARILYN ALVA While many investors were looking the other way in 2004, the market for initial public offerings sprang back into action. The number of companies that went public more than tripled from the prior year to 216. ...

From Digital Images To Golf Club Shafts; Top Gainers Ran The Gamut; Hot New America stocks in "04 shared few common traits -- except success.(THE NEW AMERICA)
January 3, 2005... Byline: MARILYN MUCH In 2004, Wall Street dynamite came in many packages. Look no further than the top five New America stocks of the year. You'd be hard pressed to find a more diverse group of companies. From a travel Web site to...

A Year To Remember For FDA Head; Or Was It A Year To Forget?; Acting chief Crawford says the agency has "come around," but issues remain.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)(Q & A)
January 3, 2005... Byline: PETER BENESH It's been a rough year for the Food and Drug Administration. Trouble came in bunches. Critics said it was slow to act on Vioxx, which Merck pulled from the market before the FDA finished its own inquiry. The...

Google, Taser, Carnival Among Sales Gainers; These firms used different strategies to grow revenue despite bad press and some adverse market conditions.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)
January 3, 2005... Byline: DOUG TSURUOKA Managing a successful company involves more than administration. It also covers moves having to do with technology, innovation or business strategy that ramps up sales. By this yardstick, 2004 had plenty of...

Diabetics And Elderly To Take Center Stage; Top drugs for 2005 have big and small companies battling tough diseases.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)
January 3, 2005... Byline: AMY REEVES Obesity, sleeplessness, old age. They're all growing problems in the U.S. That's why drug makers have so much in the pipeline to treat these and related health problems. The coming year likely will bring major drugs...

Market-Leading Medical Stocks.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)
January 3, 2005... 1Dialysis Corp Of AmericaOutpnt/Home CareDCAI19.212.459799B0125044 The firm opened its second dialysis center in Virginia shortly before Christmas, bringing the total number in the chain to 23 in six states. 2Cantel Medical...

Who's Who In Leisure -- Gaming And Equipment Stocks ranked by a combined EPS and Relative Strength.(INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT)
January 3, 2005... 1Monarch CasinoMCRI989942.29384.6126.551116.7112012.6 Reno, Nev. Operates the tropical-theme, 1,000-room Atlantis casino and resort. 2Penn Natl. GamingPENN959760.642446.311612733.77177.2 Wyomissing, Penn. Will acquire Argosy Gaming...

Gaming Continues To Pay Off; As casinos open in more areas, gambling industry enjoys a lucrative run.(INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT)(LEISURE - GAMING AND EQUIPMENT)
January 3, 2005... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON Las Vegas has a slogan: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. That would include the billions left in slot machines and gaming tables each year. Gaming casinos -- the operators no longer use the word...

Casino Business' Goal: Win, But Keep It Fun; Thanks to law of large numbers, even a narrow edge will always pay off.(INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT)(BEHIND THE NUMBERS)
January 3, 2005... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON At its core, the casino business is pretty simple, says Robert Hannum, a professor of math and statistics. It's all about the mathematical law of large numbers. When one side has an edge -- even a narrow one --...

Funds Fight Through Snags To Post Gains.(FUNDS & PERSONAL FINANCE)
January 3, 2005... Byline: KEN HOOVER It won't go down as one of the great markets in history, but stocks and the mutual funds that buy them sputtered to a gain in 2004 on the back of a smart rally that began Aug. 13 and got smarter after Election Day. ...

The Two Viktors.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
January 3, 2005... Foreign Affairs: Serious historians resist talking about events as inevitable. Millions of lives, after all, were lost over the past century as ideologues embraced morbid notions of "historical process." But when Ukrainian Prime Minister...

Knights In Shining Armor.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
January 3, 2005... Defense: A poll of active-duty U.S. military personnel shows strong support for the way the Iraq war is being handled. They know the truth the media don't report. It's a journalistic truism that the charge often winds up on Page 1 and the...

Junk Science And Man-Made Tsunamis.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
January 3, 2005... Environmentalism: Viktor Yushchenko's election as prime minister should have a calming effect on Ukrainian politics, just as his very survival should debunk a long-standing myth about chemicals. It took two elections -- the first so...

America The "Stingy'? Hardly.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)
January 3, 2005... Byline: BRUCE BARTLETT The other day, a United Nations official accused the U.S. of being "stingy" in terms of aid to tsunami victims in South Asia. After criticism from the State Department, the official clarified his position....

Earlier Lineup Featured Some Market Gainers.(THE IBD 100)(INSIDE THE IBD 100)
January 3, 2005... Byline: KEN HOOVER The rally is more than four months old, and a number of stocks have made significant moves up. A look at The IBD 100 from August shows many of these winners on the list. The investor who knew how to use the list...

THE IBD 100.(THE IBD 100)
January 3, 2005... 1NovatelNGPS44.39-12999999+151+106..+26138..0 Expanding niche for precision GPS devices. Gear nails down position within the millimeter. 2TravelzooTZOO95.43-14999999+280+300+600+997220841 Web site lists bargains from 300 travel...

Driller Atlas America Leverages Higher Gas Prices In Northeast.(THE IBD 100)
January 3, 2005... Byline: DAVID ISAAC Atlas America recently announced its fourth-quarter and year-end results. The news was more good news for the oil and gas driller. Atlas' sales jumped 71% to $181 million in fiscal '04. Fourth-quarter sales surged...

IBD'S WEEK IN REVIEW.(THE IBD 100)
January 3, 2005... Tsunami Toll At 150,000 As Aid Arrives 1Dec. 26's 9.0 magnitude quake struck near Sumatra, sending walls of water racing across the Indian Ocean and wiping out coasts in 11 nations. The U.S. boosted its aid pledge to $350 mil Friday from...

THE IBD 100.(THE IBD 100)
January 3, 2005... 51Berry Petroleum ABRY47.70-6999495+81+134+96+641822143 California oil explorer held up well above its 50-day despite crude oil's recent correction. 52Cameco CorpCCJ104.9+1979495+58+17+73+35623..1 World's top uranium supplier...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(GENERAL MARKET & SECTORS)
January 3, 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...

Chicago Mercantile's Unique Business Netted Big Stock Gains.(SERIES: Best Of Stocks Of 2004)(MAKING MONEY)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
January 3, 2005... Byline: JONAH KERI Best Of Stocks Of 2004 A breakthrough new gadget or a revolutionary medical breakthrough can drive a stock to huge gains. If a company's business seems less exciting, though, don't necessarily let that scare you off....

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Dow, S&P, Decline In Light New Year's Eve Trade.(MAKING MONEY)
January 3, 2005... Byline: KATHARINE STALTER The S&P 500 slumped 0.1% Friday and the Dow industrials 0.2% in lower New Year's Eve volume. For the week, the S&P rose 0.2% and the Dow slipped 0.4% in below-average trading. Oregon Steel Mills gained 0.95 to...

Analysts See Mueller's Yearly Earnings Rising.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Katharine Stalter Mueller Industries has been trending up since mid-October, when it gapped down after reporting third-quarter earnings that missed First Call's consensus views. For the past three weeks, it's closed in a tight...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Calm Day Caps Nasdaq's Bumpy, Resilient Year.(B)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Jonah Keri and Nancy Gondo The Nasdaq ended a quiet week with a small loss Friday. The composite eased 0.1%, the Nasdaq 100 0.2%. For the week, the Nasdaq gained 0.7%. For the year, it advanced 8.6%. Dialysis Corp. of...

Comstock Debuts As Home Builders Thrive.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
January 3, 2005... Byline: Jonah Keri Comstock Homebuilding went public at $16 a share on Dec. 14. The stock hit a high of 21.38, then pulled back in extremely light volume. When following an IPO, make sure to wait for a first base to form before mulling a...

Factory Orders Rise As Hiring Weakens; Construction Down; Dec. ISM Index Up To 58.6; Jobs index's 13-mo. low and worst building drop in years hit stock market.(A)
January 4, 2005... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE Data out Monday showed factory activity picked up, but home building slowed. The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index rose 0.8 point to 58.6 in December. New orders jumped 5.9 points to 67.4, the...

Tax Overhaul Faces Good Odds, But Details, Timing Aren't Near; One of Bush's top goals, reform awaits proposals from planned tax panel.(A)
January 4, 2005... Byline: BRIAN MITCHELL President Bush said nary a word about tax reform in his last press conference of the year -- just a reminder that he'll appoint a panel to recommend ways to overhaul the "outdated tax code." But tax reform is one...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
January 4, 2005... Ex-Presidents Lead Tsunami Push 1President Bush tapped George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton to lead a U.S. charity campaign for victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami that's killed nearly 140,000. In hard-hit Indonesia, U.S. military copters helped...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
January 4, 2005... GEN-PROBE will pay up to $3.25 mil to license cancer detection technology from AdnaGen, a move that'll improve its own diagnostic tests. Shares rose. EBAY hired AT&T Wireless' former CIO Chris Corrado as their senior VP of technology....

BUSINESS BRIEFS/IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
January 4, 2005... MEDIA TiVo launches portable service The digital recorder maker will offer TiVoToGo, a service letting subscribers transfer shows recorded on TiVo devices to PCs or laptops -- so long as the show isn't tagged with copy restrictions....

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
January 4, 2005... MARKETS Chicago Merc report disappoints Shares in the futures and options exchange, which climbed more than 200% last year, fell 4.7% to 217.91 after releasing trading figures for Dec. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange reported average...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
January 4, 2005... TRANSPORTATION Delta Air expected to trim fares The No. 3 air carrier is planning to expand nationwide a pricing structure that led to cheaper tickets and more passenger traffic at its Cincinnati hub, said published reports, citing...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
January 4, 2005... MEDICAL Pfizer drug seen selling over $1 bil Standard & Poor's affirmed its hold rating for the drug firm's stock following anti-seizure drug Lyrica's FDA approval for neuropathic pain. But S&P forecasted Lyrica's sales can eventually...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
January 4, 2005... Venture-backed IPOs rise in '04 Led by Google, 93 IPOs raised $11 bil. That blows the $2 bil collected in 2003's 29 deals out of the water. The tech sector led the way with $6.6 bil. Life science firms collected $2.4 bil. Nonhigh-tech...

TRENDS/INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
January 4, 2005... U.S. agency wants tsunami alerts The chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the Caribbean and Atlantic coastlines would benefit from a tsunami warning system, even though risk of earthquakes that cause the...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
January 4, 2005... Bush lobbies newest lawmakers President Bush met with newly elected members of Congress, where battle lines are being drawn on his second-term goals to simplify tax laws, partially privatize Social Security and rein in medical liability...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
January 4, 2005... Abbas rejects move vs. militants Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said he would never take up arms against militant groups because they are "freedom fighters." Abbas has called for an end to the anti-Israeli violence, but said he will...

DECIDE UPON YOUR TRUE DREAMS AND GOALS Facing A Micromanager.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
January 4, 2005... Byline: Amy Alexander 2 You're working furiously to finish a task when a shadow falls across your desk. It's the boss, checking on your progress. Before you can say anything, he's slipped behind you. Now he's reading over your shoulder and...

Education Activist Bessie Locke; Keep Learning: Her effort to lift lives helped make kindergarten a social standard.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
January 4, 2005... Byline: AMY REEVES We take it for granted that when a child starts school, he or she starts in kindergarten. But it wasn't always so. In the past, if a school was big enough to have separate grades, it started logically with first...

One Story Line About News Blogs: They Lag Far Behind Mainstream; Still A Small Readership; About 32 million people in U.S. occasionally visit blog sites, says Pew study.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
January 4, 2005... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON It took Powerlineblog.com little more than two years to get its first 15 minutes of fame, but then the spotlight shone brightly. Powerlineblog is one of the 6 million blogs, personal Web sites that post views on...

Vonage Aims To Stay On Its Growth Path With New Equipment; Firm Nearing 400,000 Users; Company will unveil range of devices at Vegas show; cable firms make gains too.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
January 4, 2005... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE When Vonage Holdings unveils new gear at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, the company should have something to crow about. The Edison, N.J.-based startup, which sells phone service via the...

What Makes Some Blogs So Popular?; They Need Right Mix; The best blogs typically reveal something about the writer, experts find.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(COMPUTERS MADE PLAIN)
January 4, 2005... Byline: DAVID ISAAC Blog. The word doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. It joins the ranks of such words as Slorc, an old acronym for Burma's ruling party, or the equally unpalatable burp. But a blog, unlike an oppressive regime in...

Advanced Micro Devices Seeks To Take Center Stage In Personal Media Players.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
January 4, 2005... Byline: JAMES DETAR Advanced Micro Devices aims to have a starring role in what some observers believe will be the next hot consumer electronics device -- personal media players. With PMPs, people can download TV shows, movies or any...

ANSYS INC. Canonsburg, Pennsylvania; It Finds Genuine Success In Simulated Tests.(THE NEW AMERICA)
January 4, 2005... Byline: ALAN R. ELLIOTT Crash test dummies -- be on your guard. Our age of whirring innovation could mean the end of the road for engineering props such as wind tunnels, water tunnels and vehicle crash test facilities. They're being...

Neuberger Fund On Fine Volatility Line; Main Goal: Limit Risk; Partners Fund searches for strong companies temporarily on the skids.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(MUTUAL FUND PROFILE)
January 4, 2005... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN Fund analysts have criticized Basu Mullick for not worrying enough about volatility. The manager of $1.8 billion Neuberger Berman Partners Fund strongly disagrees. "You've got to put things into...

Poverty Kills.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
January 4, 2005... Disasters: Whatever terrors nature may throw your way, it's better to be in a rich country than in a poor one. There's a well-known way to make the poor richer -- and thus safer -- but it's surprisingly controversial. We're speaking about...

Bear In The Woods.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
January 4, 2005... Foreign Affairs: Russia's meddling in the Ukrainian elections and its collaboration with China indicate its days as a threat to freedom and democracy may not be over. Russia and China will hold their first joint military exercise this...

Kofi's 'Horrible Year'.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
January 4, 2005... U.N.: In modern jargon, an "intervention" usually takes place because an abuser has a problem with alcohol or drugs -- not, as in the U.N.'s case, with an out-of-control and unaccountable bureaucracy. But that's just the term a handful of...

Speaking Terms.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
January 4, 2005... Prosperity: One of the keys to globalization is communication. You can't trade if you can't speak the other person's language. Unlike other nations, Chile gets it. In a testament to the economic might and global influence of the U.S.,...

Outsourcing Gov't.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
January 4, 2005... Efficiency: The White House plans a push to privatize work done by federal employees, a move that could save billions. But liberal lawmakers and unions hate the idea and are frustrating efforts, taxpayers be damned. Leading their charge is...

LETTERS.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(Letter to the Editor)
January 4, 2005... One Ahead Of Him "Tale Of 2 Candidates" (Editorial, Friday) is incorrect in stating that Bobby Jindal will be the first Indian American in Congress. He was preceded by Dalip Singh Saund, who was elected in 1956. Ernest M. Scheuer, Los...

False Starts Can Occur Among The Top Growth Stocks.(SERIES: Best Stocks Of 2004)(MAKING MONEY)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
January 4, 2005... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG Best Stocks Of 2004 Some superior stocks need two or three tries to launch a great breakout. Last year was no exception. If you get knocked out of a good-quality stock once, don't dismiss it for the rest...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Dow, S&P 500 Close Lower As Oil Prices Slide.(MAKING MONEY)
January 4, 2005... Byline: NANCY GONDO NYSE stocks jumped to an early gain Monday but ended their first day of trading in 2005 on a down note. The Dow fell 0.5% and the S&P 500 0.8% as trading bounced back to average levels. Small caps took the biggest hit,...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(GENERAL MARKET & SECTORS)
January 4, 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...

Quiksilver Starts Fifth Week Of Flat Pattern.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
January 4, 2005... Byline: Nancy Gondo Quiksilver broke out of a three-month base Sept. 10 and rallied more than 20% through its Dec. 1 high. The stock has since traded in a tight range the past four weeks. A 6% correction from the peak to the trough of the...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Starts 2005 With Higher-Volume Tumble.(B)
January 4, 2005... Byline: KATHARINE STALTER The Nasdaq tumbled 1.1% Monday as volume swelled from its pre-New Year's level. Angiodynamics dropped 0.76 to 21.39 in seven times typical trading. The maker of catheters and other surgical gear came public in...

Big 5 Sports Solid EPS; Earnings Growth Slows.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
January 4, 2005... Byline: Katharine Stalter Big 5 Sporting Goods broke out of a cup-without-handle base in November. It stalled and then pulled back to its 50-day moving average. Since late December it's run up in lower volume. It hit an all-time intraday...

Techs Lead Sell-Off In Heavy Volume As Fed Riles Market; Leaders Take It On The Chin; FOMC minutes highlight inflation, turning bad day into a more serious dive.(A)(THE BIG PICTURE)
January 5, 2005... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG Stocks suffered a second straight heavy-volume sell-off Tuesday, putting more pressure on the 4 1/2-month rally. Last month, the Fed raised short-term rates a fifth time to 2.25%. But according to minutes of...

Microsoft's Mighty Web Browser Starts To Look A Bit Vulnerable; PC security issues boost rival program Firefox, and Linux could benefit.(A)
January 5, 2005... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ Microsoft is being outfoxed in the Web browser market by a foe it thought it vanquished long ago. The early success of the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browser is at best a black eye for Microsoft. The Redmond,...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
January 5, 2005... Stocks Continue Sell-Off In 2005 1Hawkish Fed minutes, a poor chip outlook, tech downgrades and possible Pentagon spending cuts fueled a high-volume slide. The Nasdaq fell 2.1%, its worst day in 5 months, to a 5-week closing low. The Dow...

Fed Policy-Makers Focused On Inflation; More Rate Hikes Likely, Minutes Show.(A)
January 5, 2005... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE Federal Reserve policy-makers are more worried about inflation than previously thought and seemingly have no intention of ending their rate-hike campaign, according to minutes from their Dec. 16 meeting. Treasury...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
January 5, 2005... PHAZAR earned 21 cents a share in Q2, 61.5% over the year-ago profit. Sales rose 23% to $3.3 mil. Shares fell. FINISH LINE raised its Q4 earnings forecast from 50-52 cents a share to 52-54 cents, at or above views; it also raised its sales...

BUSINESS BRIEFS/IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
January 5, 2005... FINANCE Archipelago to buy Pac Exchange The electronic trading exchange will pay $50.69 mil in stock and cash for PCX Holdings, owner of the Pacific Exchange and PCX Equities. The deal will let Archipelago buy the rest of the Pacific...