Investor's Business Daily articles from June 2004

Investor's Business Daily archives from June 2004

Factories In Chicago Surprisingly Strong: Index At 1988 High; Bullish In The Battleground?; But one sentiment gauge is revised sharply lower; inflation data are mixed.(A)
June 1, 2004... Byline: ED CARSON Chicago-area factories expanded at the fastest pace in 16 years in May even as a consumer sentiment gauge showed a sharp decline late in the month. The Chicago purchasers index jumped 4.1 points in May to 68, the...

MARKET TOOL BAR.(A)
June 1, 2004... S&P 500 INDEX 1120.68 -0.60 (-0.1%) Mixed in quiet trade headed into holiday DOW JONES IND. 10,188.45 -16.75 (-0.2%) Down for the month, unlike other indices NYSE VOL. (MIL) 1,282 -190...

Nat'l Banks Exempt From Conn.'s Laws, Court Rules, But States Keep Fighting.(A)
June 1, 2004... Byline: LAURA MANDARO A federal court ruled last week that states can't regulate federally chartered banks' mortgage units, the latest legal win for big banks. No. 4 U.S. bank Wachovia sued Connecticut in January 2003 for being...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
June 1, 2004... Allawi Nominated As Iraqi PM 1The Iraqi Governing Council chose one of its own, Iyad Allawi, a U.K.-educated secular Shiite and ex-exile, to head the transitional government taking power June 30. A top U.S. official also confirmed he's the...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
June 1, 2004... U.S. AIRWAYS is downgrading Pittsburgh from hub to focus city; Charlotte, N.C., will be its primary international hub now. Shares rose. BOSTON SCIENTIFIC'S drug-eluting stent can remain on the market while the firm resolves a patent dispute...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
June 1, 2004... FOOD/BEVERAGES Pilgrim's Pride hit by bird flu The poultry producer destroyed a breeder flock that lays eggs for hatching after routine blood tests found a bird flu strain; the infection hit 3 months after avian flu outbreaks in Texas,...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
June 1, 2004... MEDICAL Dr. Reddy's profit tumbles 74% The Indian drug maker made $3.5 mil, down from $13.7 mil in the year-ago quarter despite sales rising 12% to $105 mil. Views had seen $13 mil profit. Dr. Reddy's cited the end of an exclusive...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
June 1, 2004... TECHNOLOGY Q1 Global server sales rise 7.3% Server sales rose to $11.5 bil, with Linux-based server sales rising 57% to $900 mil and unit shipments up 46%. Sales of 32-bit servers with Intel or AMD chips rose 14% to $5.1 bil. Microsoft...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
June 1, 2004... TRANSPORTATION Death puts Fiat future in doubt Umberto Agnelli, who became chairman of Fiat after the death of his brother Giovanni 15 months ago, died of cancer Thursday. Who will lead the maker of Fiat and Ferrari cars is up in the...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
June 1, 2004... U.S. inks Central American pact The U.S. and five countries signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which the Bush administration hopes will lead to a bigger, hemisphere-wide trade deal by '05. But the deal faces stiff opposition...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
June 1, 2004... Bayer, BASF and the Aventis Hoechst unit will sell their joint-venture textile-dye firm DyStar to Platinum Equity. The firms didn't disclose financial terms, but HVB Bank put the figure at $687.5 mil. Bayer and Aventis had 35% stakes, and BASF...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
June 1, 2004... Two arrested in beheading case Baltimore police said the suspects, Adan Canela, 17, and Policarpio Espinosa, 22, are cousins and related to the victims. Three children, ages 9-10, were found dead Thursday by one of their mothers. One was...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
June 1, 2004... Aid lands in flood-ravaged Haiti Helicopters loaded with drinking water and medicine touched down in remote villages devastated by the deadliest floods in recent memory. Haiti's official death toll rose to 579. The Dominican Republic...

FOCUS YOUR TIME AND MONEY Make Meetings Meatier.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
June 1, 2004... Byline: ADELIA CELLINI LINECKER 7 You're a newly minted manager and you're ready to call your first meeting. You swore you'd never drag anyone through a long, useless meeting. Need a few tips? There are easy ways to make meetings more...

Dizzy Found His Own Groove Innovate: John Gillespie had the resolve to play his trumpet like none had dared.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
June 1, 2004... Byline: KEN HOOVER Dizzy Gillespie just couldn't stop experimenting. Even when it cost him his job. Which it did, more often than not. After he performed on warm summer nights in the late 1930s at the famed Cotton Club in New York...

Gaming Peripherals Emerge As More Than A Sideline Industry Takes In $1.3 Billion Users embrace Web play, while sophisticated game controllers add to realism.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
June 1, 2004... Byline: DAVID ISAAC You just bought your first video game console. Setting it up, you realize you'll need a second game controller, a broadband cable for online play and a memory card to save your scores. Back to the store! Game...

Sign Of Times For Servers As Dell Gains; Devices Become Commodities.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
June 1, 2004... Byline: KEN SPENCER BROWN If there was any lingering doubt about whether servers are becoming a commodity, Dell dispelled them with its third-place showing in two recent market-share studies. The direct personal computer firm grabbed...

After STSN Got Marriott, More Hotels Checked Out Wi-Fi.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
June 1, 2004... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE When David Garrison approached two big hotel chains in late 2002 about letting his firm, STSN, install fast wireless Internet links in lobbies, meeting rooms and guest rooms, he met with skepticism. Garrison...

BEA Making Moves To Build Buzz; Hopes "Beehive' Stings; Lagging main rival IBM, firm goes open source with key software tools.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
June 1, 2004... Byline: KEN SPENCER BROWN No one should have been shocked when BEA Systems CEO Alfred Chuang kicked off his firm's annual eWorld conference in San Francisco last week with a stunt. He bounded onto the stage for his opening speech through a...

HEALTHEXTRAS INC. Rockville, Maryland Recent Deal Is The Right Financial Rx For Pharmacy Benefit Manager.(THE NEW AMERICA)
June 1, 2004... Byline: PETER BENESH A little zydeco music, please. What else would you play when you've just won a contract to supply pharmaceutical benefits to 200,000 people in Louisiana? The toe-tapping is coming from the Rockville, Md.,...

EXECUTIVE BRIEFING.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)
June 1, 2004... ON THE BOOKSHELF New Reading ** Get busy! With the endless flood of e-mails, voice mails, meetings and other distractions in most offices, it can be difficult for managers to focus on strategic goals. Instead, they're swamped with...

Aiming To Do Well By Doing Good In the wake of corporate scandals, more businesses tout their conscience.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)
June 1, 2004... Byline: NICK TURNER When Ben & Jerry's posted its first loss in 1994, some saw it as a test of the firm's socially minded attitude. The Vermont ice cream maker had long touted its social mission: to improve quality of life locally,...

Kauffman Foundation Aids Startups And Budding Entrepreneurs; MedSpeed, a health care logistics firm, benefited from student's research.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)(REAL SOLUTIONS)
June 1, 2004... Byline: DOUG TSURUOKA Geoffrey Bonn knew it was for real. As an MBA student at the University of Chicago, he was used to poring over data in case studies. But when MedSpeed, a small Chicago-based health care logistics company...

Market-Leading Medical Stocks.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)
June 1, 2004... - 1Amedisys IncOutpnt/Home CareAMED24.8-19.199898A818310052 The home health nursing service firm runs 64 offices in the South and Southeast. It derives most of its yearly revenue from Medicare. 2Eon Labs IncGeneric...

MED BRIEFS.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)
June 1, 2004... Baxter To Stop Hemophilia Ads Baxter International received a Food and Drug Administration warning that questions the way it describes the side effects of the hemophilia drug Advate and the way it backs up claims made in marketing...

Acquisition Gives Lens Maker New Identity, Opportunities.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)(UNDER THE MICROSCOPE)
June 1, 2004... Byline: PETER BENESH Advanced Medical Optics Inc. Santa Ana, Calif. amo-inc.com The word "spin" often carries a pejorative connotation. Not for James Mazzo, chief executive of Advanced Medical Optics, which makes contact lens...

A Corporate Strategy For The Uninsured Coalition Eyes More Coverage; GE, McDonald's among; those working to convince insurers to lower their rates.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)
June 1, 2004... Byline: AMY REEVES In an election year, the statistic always comes up: 43 million Americans have no health insurance. Usually the debate rages over what government should do about it. This year some of the country's largest businesses...

Life For The Obese Is No Walk In The Park; Poor community design plays a part in obesity problem, architect says.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)(Q&A)
June 1, 2004... Byline: GLORIA LAU Cheap fatty food, combined with a lack of physical activity, contributes to the nation's rise in obesity, which kills nearly as many people as does smoking. But experts say solutions to this problem lie not just in...

Who's Who In Soft Drinks.(news)
June 1, 2004... 1Hansen NaturalHANS889924.54276.3119.621713.142178.8 Corona CA. Markets alternative beverages like natural soda, juices and smoothies. 2Pepsiamericas IncPAS9685212917.33292.313321.28107.4 Minneapolis MN. Manufactures, and...

The Genie's Left The Bottle Will new low-carb, low-sugar sodas add sales fizz to an industry gone flat?(INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT)
June 1, 2004... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ Soft drink giants Coke and Pepsi hope to fatten their sales this summer with the launch of dueling mid-calorie products. Coca-Cola C2 and Pepsi Edge are poised to cash in on the low-sugar, low-carbohydrate diet craze....

Will Moms On The Go Guzzle Energy Drinks?; Hansen Natural wants to sell the young man's beverage to everybody.(INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT)(TOP OF THE LIST)
June 1, 2004... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ Energy drinks aren't just for young men anymore. Hansen Natural is expanding the category to women, older men and anyone who could use a boost during the day. The Corona, Calif.-based company gets about half...

SAVING FOR RETIREMENT.(MUTUAL FUNDS)
June 1, 2004... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF Americans are increasingly gloomy about retirement prospects, according to a new poll of workers with retirement accounts like 401(k)s. Workers said they'll be forced to retire on average about five years later...

Bold Relief.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
June 1, 2004... Energy: Gasoline prices with seemingly no ceiling have the administration mulling removal of fuel blend regulations to boost supplies. Crude futures fell a bit before the Memorial Day weekend, which is taking some pressure off retail...

U.N.? No Thanks.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
June 1, 2004... Iraq: As the endgame draws near, world leaders have joined to call for more involvement and control by the United Nations. What a mistake that would be. The maneuvering by the U.N. and its most vocal supporters has grown intense. Not only...

Buying Blindly Bad Idea Even In Bull Market.(THE IBD 100)(INSIDE THE IBD 100)
June 1, 2004... Byline: JONAH KERI Blindly buying stocks off any list is asking for trouble. During a market correction, three out of every four stocks will follow the major indexes down. Even the best stocks face long odds in such an environment. ...

The IBD 100.(THE IBD 100)
June 1, 2004... 1Middleby CorpMIDD61.17-2999998+24+100+41+113512505 One-stop shop for heating, cooking, baking gear. Firm to pay special 40 cent dividend per share. 2Sanderson FarmsSAFM46.00-1999996+27+263-14+36269486 Chicken producer blasts to...

Drew Industries Grabs Bigger Part Of RV, Prefab Housing Markets.(THE IBD 100)
June 1, 2004... Byline: KIRK SHINKLE Trailers and mobile homes have sloughed off their white-trash image over the last few decades. Today they're recreational vehicles and manufactured homes, designed and built to rival their landlocked brethren...

IBD's Week In Review.(THE IBD 100)
June 1, 2004... Stock Market Confirms Attempted Rally 1The tech-heavy Nasdaq and small-cap S&P 600 followed through Tuesday, each surging more than 2% in heavier volume than the day before. Volume was slightly below average on the Nasdaq, although small...

IBD's Week In Review.(THE IBD 100)
June 1, 2004... Stock Market Confirms Attempted Rally 1The tech-heavy Nasdaq and small-cap S&P 600 followed through Tuesday, each surging more than 2% in heavier volume than the day before. Volume was slightly below average on the Nasdaq, although small...

NYSE REAL MOST ACTIVE S&P 500 Closes May With Gains.(B)
June 1, 2004... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG The S&P 500 lost less than 0.1% Friday, but closed the week up 2.6%. The Dow slipped just 0.2% and gained 2.2% for the week. Both indexes halted a four-week slide. NYSE volume fell sharply ahead of the Memorial...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(GENERAL MARKET & SECTORS)
June 1, 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...

Jabil Circuits Gave Investors A Second Chance.(THE SMART INVESTOR)(WINNING WAYS)
June 1, 2004... Byline: KEN HOOVER Jabil Circuit looked like it was in big trouble in February 1996. It had lost its biggest customer, Quantum Corp., which accounted for 25% of its business. Investors took the stock out and shot it. It fell from the low...

Home Builder Names New Execs In 4 Areas.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
June 1, 2004... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG Pulte Homes soared out of a three-month base in late February and rose 22% in just seven days of trade. But the market's slump in March and April reeled the stock back below its original pivot point of 47.70. The...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Closes Week Above Its 50-Day Average.(B)
June 1, 2004... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG The Nasdaq eked out a 0.1% gain in quiet range-bound trade Friday. The composite rolled ahead 3.9% for the week, its biggest weekly gain in two months. It rose 3.5% in May, ending a three-month selling streak. ...

Canadian Drug Maker Rounding Out Pattern.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
June 1, 2004... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Axcan Pharma gained ground on brisk volume the last two weeks to start building the right side of its 14-week base. The stock is back above its 50-day support line. Its up/down volume ratio of 1.6 shows robust upside...

Oil Rockets To $42.33 On Saudi Terror Attack, But Supply Seen Safe; 22 Die In Khobar Rampage; Hitting oil infrastructure is very hard, experts say, but "expats' soft targets.(A)
June 2, 2004... Byline: BRIAN MITCHELL Oil is the lifeblood of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia -- and the global economy -- and its security is not taken lightly. So Islamic militants are targeting the soft underbelly of the oil industry -- the foreign...

Manufacturing Remains Strong In May; Jobs Gauge Best In More Than 31 Years; Broad Strength In ISM Survey; Prices keep racing ahead, but won't derail economy, experts confidently predict.(A)
June 2, 2004... Byline: JED GRAHAM The manufacturing sector continued to surge in May as a key gauge of employment spiked to the highest level since 1973. The Institute for Supply Management's index of factory activity unexpectedly rose to 62.8 from...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
June 2, 2004... Crude Tops $42 On Terror Fears 1July crude oil surged $2.45 to a record $42.33 a barrel. A weekend al-Qaida rampage in Saudi Arabia left 22 dead, mostly foreign oil industry staff, while 3 of 4 attackers escaped. That raised fears of...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
June 2, 2004... ARMOR HOLDINGS raised its Q2 views to 70-75 cents a share vs. 61 cents expected, on increased demand for its Humvee armoring services in Iraq. Shares rose. ALKERMES cut its '05 sales outlook after it and Genentech agreed to stop selling a...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
June 2, 2004... TOBACCO Court orders BAT to turn in memo The federal judge in the U.S. government's $280 bil racketeering case vs. big tobacco companies ordered a unit of British American Tobacco to turn over a document it's been fighting to withhold...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
June 2, 2004... MEDICAL Boston Scientific in $740 mil deal The medical device maker agreed to acquire privately held Advanced Bionics to expand its presence in the implantable microelectronic medical devices market. Advanced Bionics has developed...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
June 2, 2004... TECHNOLOGY Global chip sales rose 4% in April Worldwide sales of semiconductors rose to $16.94 bil in traditionally strong April, their highest monthly level since July '00, thanks to strong cell phone demand, said the Semiconductor...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
June 2, 2004... BEVERAGES Anheuser bids for China's Harbin The No. 1 U.S. brewer launched a $720 mil bid for the Chinese brewer, topping rival SABMiller's hostile $550 mil offer. The two brewers are fighting for control of China's 4th-largest beer...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
June 2, 2004... Consumer confidence falls again The ABC/Money Magazine Consumer Comfort Index fell 2 points to -18 last week, as high gas prices continue to weigh on sentiment. The index hit a 2-year high of -3 in mid-Jan. Just 34% of Americans said it was...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
June 2, 2004... GE Energy has agreed to buy BHA Group Holdings for $260 mil in cash to expand its environmental services business. BHA rose 16% to 37.72; GE fell 8 cents to 31.04. Eastman Chemical sold adhesives, polymers and ink assets to Apollo...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
June 2, 2004... Frist delays tort reform vote The Senate GOP leader postponed a vote on a bill that would move more class-actions suits from state to federal courts, which are often more skeptical of such claims. Democrats sought the delay, insisting the...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
June 2, 2004... Agency issues N. Korea warning The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency said North Korea's nuclear program was "the most dangerous situation" the U.N. faces. North Korea withdrew from the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
June 2, 2004... Women's clothing sizes adjusted Following Chico's FAS' lead in offering apparel in a smaller array of single-digit sizes, retailers like August Max will drop traditional sizes of 8-20 in favor of sizes 1-5. The American Apparel...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
June 2, 2004... ** Washing hands with soap and water cut children's diarrhea rates 50%, a CDC team studying refugee children in Pakistan reported. The findings could cut the worldwide fatality rate for childhood diarrhea from 5,000 a day by compelling...

Turning Burnout Around.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
June 2, 2004... Byline: Amy Alexander 8 You've arrived. Yet, these days, you find you don't look forward to coming to work. During your morning commutes, you daydream about sailing the Caribbean or hiking the Appalachian Trail. Activities you once...

Baseball Slugger Ted Williams; Be Dedicated: Relentless practice ensured that the hits kept on coming.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
June 2, 2004... Byline: CURT SCHLEIER Ted Williams knew he had great natural ability. His eyes were so good that he could see the baseball flatten out as it hit his bat. But for Williams, natural ability wasn't enough. "Hundreds of kids have the...

America Movil Finds Prepaid Cell Service Can Succeed In U.S.; Gains beat Industry Average; TracFone Wireless in mold of its parent's businesses in Mexico and Latin America.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
June 2, 2004... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE Wireless phone company America Movil's prepaid strategy has paid off in Mexico and Latin America. Now its U.S. unit, TracFone Wireless, is making inroads with prepaid. TracFone's subscriber base has climbed...

Inner Cities Mining Old Resource: Easy Access To Phone, Cable Lines; Location Has Rare Plus; Availability of broadband is helping spark startups in some depressed areas.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
June 2, 2004... Byline: DOUG TSURUOKA Most inner cities -- depressed, central areas in big cities -- don't have a lot going for them. But there's one thing many of them do have, and it's a big item in this information age: plenty of phone and cable...

Did E-Mails You Sent Get Read?; New Service Tells You.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
June 2, 2004... Byline: PETE BARLAS Ever wonder what happens to an e-mail message after you send it? Alastair Rampell has an answer. Rampell's privately held Rampell Software late last month began selling a service that tells e-mail senders whether...

PLM Companies Form Diverse, Crowded Field.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
June 2, 2004... Byline: J. BONASIA After a few slow years, product lifecycle management software sales are rising. But it's a crowded field, a mix of giants, startups and midsize players. Here are the companies most often cited by analysts: ** Agile...

Product Lifecycle Software Reborn At Nontechie Firms; The Market Is Growing; The consumer products sector spent $824 mil on PLM software last year.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
June 2, 2004... Byline: J. BONASIA Product lifecycle management software came out of the computer-aided design software world. As such, it was used at first mostly to help make techie or complex products such as cars, jets and cell phones. PLM,...

PATTERSON DENTAL CO. St. Paul, Minnesota; Dental Supplier Sinks Teeth Into New Sectors.(THE NEW AMERICA)
June 2, 2004... Byline: MARILYN ALVA Patterson Dental Co. has had plenty of time to build up expertise in the dental-supply trade. About 130 years, to be exact. Over that time the company has built itself into the top player in its market, selling...

Tough Decade For Fidelity's Magellan; Help From Citigroup; Small tech bets hurt; now Stansky has bulked up on consumer names.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(MUTUAL FUND PROFILE)
June 2, 2004... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF Ouch! Times are tough for Magellan Fund, Fidelity Investments' giant flagship portfolio. The $66.7 billion fund was up 0.74% for the year going into Tuesday. That barely lagged the 0.87% gain by its large blend...

Thinking Long Term.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
June 2, 2004... Energy: The attack on a Saudi oil compound over the weekend drives home a key fact: At the start of the 21st century, the U.S. is critically dependent for its energy needs on unstable overseas suppliers. That dependency has only grown, as...

A Full Stride Closer.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
June 2, 2004... Iraq: A new government takes shape and self-rule takes a giant step toward reality. Spin this story as you will, but it's hard to ignore so much evidence of progress. Reporters have been doing their usual best to give every bit of bad...

FACT BOX.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)
June 2, 2004... ON THIS DAY In 1952, President Truman's seizure of the steel mills was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Only Congress can authorize the taking of private property for public use, the court said. Truman had seized the mills...

LETTERS.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(Letter to the Editor)
June 2, 2004... Message To Press: Try Balance It was a pleasure to read Walter Williams' balanced opinion in "A Humane War Gives "Atrocity' A New Meaning " (Viewpoint, May 13) regarding the alleged atrocities by Americans in Iraq. I am tired of reading...

Scratching Beneath Surface Of The "Working Poor' Myth.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(VIEWPOINT)
June 2, 2004... Byline: THOMAS SOWELL BusinessWeek magazine has joined the chorus of misleading rhetoric about "the working poor." Why is this misleading? Let me count the ways. First of all, Census data show that most people who are working are not...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Late-Day Rally Pushes NYSE Stocks Higher.(MAKING MONEY)
June 2, 2004... Byline: JONAH KERI NYSE stocks rallied late Tuesday to close with modest gains in higher volume. The Dow and S&P 500 rose 0.1%, the small-cap S&P 600 0.6%. Oil shipping firms had a big day. Overseas Shipping Group gushed 3.23 to a new...

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

Brunswick Setting Up After Big 2003 Gains.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
June 2, 2004... Byline: Jonah Keri Brunswick quietly racked up some huge gains from the start of the new bull run in March 2003 to early 2004, nearly tripling in price. The stock has digested its gains for the last six weeks and currently trades just...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Up 0.2%, Extending Last Week's Gains.(B)
June 2, 2004... Byline: NANCY GONDO The Nasdaq composite closed just shy of its intraday high Tuesday to gain 0.2% on higher volume. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 also advanced 0.2%. Internet content and service providers were among the top performing...

Synaptics Works On Right Side Of Base.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
June 2, 2004... Byline: Nancy Gondo Synaptics hit an all-time high Jan. 26 before gradually pulling back to just below its 200-day line over the next two months. It looks like a handle may have formed April 23 but it's in the lower half of the base, which...

Quandary For Semiconductor Industry: Enjoy Today Or Worry About Tomorrow?; Chip and equipment sales are booming, but forecasts see slowdowns in '05, '06.(A)
June 3, 2004... Byline: JAMES DETAR A new, impending chip slowdown is now official. It might seem like chip sales had just started to rebound after the dot-bomb of 2001-02, but analysts have been saying the latest semiconductor cycle was peaking. This...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
June 3, 2004... Oil Falls Over $2, Back Below $40 1July crude dived $2.37 a barrel to $39.96 a barrel as several OPEC members signaled support for the Saudi plan to up cartel quotas by 10.6% on Thursday. On Tuesday, terror fears drove up oil by $2.45 to...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
June 3, 2004... AEROPOSTALE same-store sales rose 27% in May. Total sales at the youth apparel retailer rose 57% to $54 mil. Shares rose. AMERICAN EAGLE OUTFITTERS' May same-store sales rose 11%. Sales at the teen clothing chain rose 20% to $117.3 mil. It...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
June 3, 2004... FINANCE Citi, HSBC downplay acquisitions Two of the world's biggest banks rejected speculation that they may soon acquire large U.S. retail banks. Citigroup CEO Charles Prince called U.S. retail bank valuations "out of line" and said...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
June 3, 2004... MEDICAL Wyeth touts "blockbuster' pipeline The drug giant said it will seek U.S. approval for four new drugs over 2 years that could bring in more than $1 bil a year in sales each. Speaking to analysts, company execs said this year it...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
June 3, 2004... TELECOM Nortel: no date on restatements North America's No. 1 telecom equipment maker repeated that it will see a 50% reduction in '03 earnings and reductions in losses for '01-02, with a net loss for the first half of '03 instead of...