Investor's Business Daily articles from March 2005

Investor's Business Daily archives from March 2005

Oil Priced Over $50 For The Rest Of '05; Won't Stop Growth; Oil Sells Off, Ends Off A Bit; Crude inventories surge to best in nearly 3 years, but demand drives prices.(A)
March 31, 2005... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE Crude oil futures have held above $50 a barrel all month, and there's no indication that this will change anytime soon. But economists do not think high energy prices will snuff out U.S. growth. The U.S. Energy...

Stocks Often Survive Fed Hikes Despite Initial Negative Reaction; Stocks did OK in '94-95 cycle -- then exploded; are we in for a repeat?(A)
March 31, 2005... Byline: KATHARINE STALTER Are higher interest rates bad for the stock market? At first glance, the answer seems to be yes. The Federal Open Market Committee on March 22 hiked the fed funds rate by a quarter-point, to 2.75%. That's...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
March 31, 2005... Stocks Climb, But Lack Volume 1 The Dow added 1.3%, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 1.6% for their best gains since Dec. 1. The small-cap S&P 600 rose 1.7%. But lower volume tempered the gains, drying up as oil rebounded late. Internets...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
March 31, 2005... JOHNSON & JOHNSON got a federal subpoena examining the contracts its subsidiary DePuy Orthopedics has with orthopedic surgeons. Medical product makers Stryker and Biomet and also received subpoenas. Shares of the 3 companies fell. ...

BUSINESS BRIEFS/IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
March 31, 2005... MEDICAL Kos Pharma soars on Barr talks Kos Pharmaceuticals jumped 29% to 42.31 on word that it is close to reaching a settlement with Barr Pharmaceuticals that would help protect the profit of its top-selling product, the cholesterol...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 31, 2005... TELECOM BlackBerry maker on the block? Research In Motion surged 5.5% to 77.12 on speculation that the BlackBerry wireless e-mail device maker is the target of a takeover. Research In Motion's stock had jumped on rumors that Nokia...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 31, 2005... TECHNOLOGY J2 Global seeks to soothe fears The messaging and communications service rose 2% to 34.27, recovering slightly from a 17% plunge Tues., as it tried to defuse an analyst's concerns over a possible payout. Pacific Growth...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 31, 2005... RETAIL CarMax meets, but steers down CarMax earned 28 cents a share in Q4, meeting views and beating the year-ago period by 40%, with revenue up 25% to $1.4 bil. CarMax had raised its Q4 earnings forecast twice based on...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
March 31, 2005... Mortgage apps up on purchasing The Mortgage Bankers Association's index of application activity rose 2.4% to 674.3 in the week ended March 25, partly offsetting a 9.5% drop the week before. The MBA's purchase index led the way rising...

TRENDS/INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
March 31, 2005... Sweden to calculate vice in GDP In order to figure out the true size of its economy, Sweden's statistics bureau has set up a "vice squad" to estimate how much Swedes spend on prostitutes, illegal drugs and smuggled alcohol. The estimates...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
March 31, 2005... Scout leader guilty in porn case Douglas Smith Jr., 61, pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing kiddie porn. Smith formerly ran the Boy Scouts' sex abuse task force. He faces 20 years in jail. Scout officials said they were...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
March 31, 2005... EU endorses Wolfowitz for bank The U.S. deputy defense secretary won a key endorsement for his bid to lead the World Bank. His nomination as president stirred controversy due to his Iraq War role and his lack of economic experience....

Anthony Drexel Banked On American Prosperity; Quiet But Bold: Big-money financier, from behind the scenes, kept railroads chugging and markets humming.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(BEST OF LEADERS & SUCCESS)
March 31, 2005... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE In the spring of 1871, Anthony Drexel met J. Pierpont Morgan for the first time. At the ripe old age of 33, Morgan decided to retire. He wasn't getting along with the partners in his New York bank firm. His...

NEVER STOP LEARNING Speaking Their Language.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
March 31, 2005... Byline: Adelia Cellini Linecker 4 Whether you're traveling abroad or hosting a foreign associate, overcoming language barriers is a must for successful business meetings. Most of us aren't polyglots, but there are ways to improve...

Van Dyck's Work Shimmered; Innovate: The Flemish painter's mastery over color, texture was unprecedented.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
March 31, 2005... Byline: DOUG TSURUOKA For Anton Van Dyck, it was the beauty of human hands that mattered above all else. The Flemish painter kept plaster casts in his studio of hands in various poses. Hands in prayer, hands at rest or in...

Retek Battle Out Of The Way, Real SAP-Oracle War Resumes; Views Vastly Different; Business software lead depends on success of 'process' or "information'.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
March 31, 2005... Byline: J. BONASIA The recent battle between SAP and Oracle to buy retail software maker Retek marks merely the latest salvo in an ongoing war for nothing less than leadership of the huge business software market. Oracle paid $670...

Incoming HP Leader Won't Break Up Firm -- For Now, At Least; HP Is 'Fundamentally Sound'; New CEO's experiences at NCR seen as key, since it faced similar challenges.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
March 31, 2005... Byline: KEN SPENCER BROWN Incoming Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Mark Hurd praised the company's culture and history on Wednesday, but said he's more interested in its future -- which for now won't include a breakup. In his first...

ESTERLINE TECHNOLOGIES Bellevue, Washington; Focus On Aerospace, Defense Is Paying Off.(THE NEW AMERICA)
March 31, 2005... Byline: STEVE WATKINS Not too long ago it was tough to say exactly what Esterline Technologies did. The company operated in 10 separate industries in the late 1990s. So Chief Executive Robert Cremin and his team decided to focus the...

Stock Fund Inflow Hits $22.43 Billion; U.S. Interest Picks Up; Rise was from $9.9 bil in Jan. as market rallied; bond fund inflow slowed.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(INVESTMENT TRENDS)
March 31, 2005... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN As stock markets climbed in February, investors stepped up their purchases of stock funds. Stock funds attracted inflow of $22.43 billion in the month vs. $9.97 billion in January. It was the second best...

Tear Down This Wall.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
March 31, 2005... Economic Policy: What has happened to free trade in recent years? There was a time when it was a point of agreement between both parties. After falling during the early part of this century when the economy was slow, U.S. international...

Fighting The Future.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
March 31, 2005... MGM v. Grokster: It's an old story. Hollywood first tries to limit new technology, fails, then learns how to get rich off it. As with VCRs, so too with file sharing. If fairness and morality were the only issues, the entertainment...

Wide, Loose Handle Often Points To A Stock In Trouble.(MAKING MONEY)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
March 31, 2005... Byline: JONAH KERI The best stocks save the best for last. After forming healthy chart patterns, top stocks etch tight, bullish handles at the end of the base, setting the stage for a big breakout. A stock that forms a wide, loose...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Dow, S&P 500 Pick Up Gains In Lighter Trade.(MAKING MONEY)
March 31, 2005... Byline: NANCY GONDO Unlike Tuesday, NYSE stocks rallied throughout the session to close near their session highs, though on lighter volume. Lower crude oil prices and modest growth in gross domestic product helped. The Dow rose 1.3%...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(GENERAL MARKET & SECTORS)
March 31, 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...

CB Richard Ellis Takes Breather From Run-Up.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
March 31, 2005... Byline: Nancy Gondo CB Richard Ellis Group broke out of a flat, three-month base in September to more than double in price from its June 2004 IPO to its Feb. 4 intraday high. The stock pulled back as much as 16% to start what may be a...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Composite Gains 1.6% As Turnover Drops.(B)
March 31, 2005... Byline: KATHARINE STALTER Nasdaq stocks advanced 1.6% Wednesday, but volume fell from Tuesday's level. As has often been the case lately, stocks from a mixed bag of industry groups were among those making big moves. Mobile Mini...

Mobile Mini Boosts Q1 EPS View To 41 Cents.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
March 31, 2005... Byline: Katharine Stalter Portable storage maker Mobile Mini has recently followed a pattern of making huge gains, then trading sideways for a number of weeks. It bolted out of a cup-shaped base in late June, then traded essentially...

IBD'S 20 RULES FOR INVESTMENT SUCCESS.(THE SMART INVESTOR)
March 31, 2005... 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...

Fund Center Delivers Key Sponsorship Data.(THE SMART INVESTOR)(INVESTORS.COM CORNER)
March 31, 2005... Byline: KEN SHREVE Each week in The IBD 100, the last column of data shows the number of consecutive quarters of rising mutual fund ownership in a stock. But which funds specifically own the stock? And do they have a solid record of past...

Behavioral Change May Lessen Impact Of MGM V. Grokster; How Do People Get Music?; Pals are source more than the peer-to-peer networks entertainment outfits fear.(A)
March 30, 2005... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ Peer-to-peer file-sharing services such as Grokster and Kazaa get the blame for most music piracy these days. But consumers are more likely to copy music borrowed from friends or public libraries than to download...

Little-Known But Respected NCR Chief Tapped To Turn Around Tech Titan HP; Hewlett-Packard Picks Hurd.(A)
March 30, 2005... Byline: KEN SPENCER BROWN Hewlett-Packard on Tuesday picked NCR chief Mark Hurd as its new CEO and president starting April 1, surprising observers with a respected but little-known executive from a far smaller company. "Mark came to...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
March 30, 2005... Market Dives In Higher Volume 1 The Nasdaq fell 0.9% -- 10% off its Jan. 3 peak. The Dow fell 0.8%. So did the S&P 500, which hit a 5-month low. The SmallCap S&P 600 shed 1.6%. Trade swelled. Morgan Stanley's cautionary note on...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
March 30, 2005... RESOURCES CONNECTION missed Q3 views, but more than doubled its year-ago profit with 26 cents. Revenue rose 54% to $135.2 mil. Shares dropped. BEAZER HOMES will take a noncash impairment charge in Q2, but doesn't expect it to affect its...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 30, 2005... TECHNOLOGY Microsoft concedes EU demands The software giant said it accepted all of the EU's requested changes for the version of Windows sold without the Media Player. These include deleting references to Media Player from product...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 30, 2005... MACHINERY Caterpillar crawls south on report The heavy equipment maker fell 4.5% to 89.80 after Morgan Stanley recommended taking profits in the construction equipment group, which has made a steep climb since May '04 on the back of...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
March 30, 2005... MACHINERY Caterpillar crawls south on report The heavy equipment maker fell 4.5% to 89.80 after Morgan Stanley recommended taking profits in the construction equipment group, which has made a steep climb since May '04 on the back of...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 30, 2005... MEDICAL Abbott Labs gets patent, upgrade The drug and medical products maker received a new patent for Biaxin XL, a form of an antibiotic that treats bacterial respiratory tract infections. The patent, which will replace one set to...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 30, 2005... RETAIL Stride Rite Q1 profit rises 15.8% The shoemaker earned 22 cents a share, a penny over views and 3 cents over the year-ago period, as sales rose 10.6% to $150.6 mil. Stride Rite's children's unit logged a 13% rise in sales,...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
March 30, 2005... U.S. auto dealers say imports hot They told Market News the domestics-import gap widened sharply in March, with domestic light trucks especially hurt by high gas prices and competition. Ford and GM had lackluster sales -- even with some...

BUSINESS BRIEFS/IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
March 30, 2005... REGULATIONS Firms given leeway on options The SEC issued a bulletin stating that corporations "can choose from a number of models to estimate the fair value of stock options," giving firms more flexibility in measuring the value of...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
March 30, 2005... High court rules on gender bias The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that those who say they have been retaliated against for complaining about unlawful gender bias can sue under a federal law barring sex discrimination at schools and colleges...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
March 30, 2005... Bush vows to assist Indonesia President Bush offered aid and prayers to victims of an 8.7 earthquake that jolted the Sumatra coast 3 months after a regional tsunami killed 300,000. About 2,000 were feared killed on Nias and other islands...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
March 30, 2005... Hair provides source of stem cells The building-block cells that researchers hope to one day use to create organs for transplant and treat diseases may be no further than the top of our heads. U.C. San Diego scientists say follicle cells...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
March 30, 2005... ** Trouble sleeping is tied to driving, work and sex problems, said the National Sleep Foundation. Some 75% of adults reported symptoms of a sleep problem like frequent waking or snoring. Some 60% of drivers surveyed said they drove drowsy...

Bowling's Everyman Ambassador, Dick Weber; Perfect Game: Fitting that humility and dedication defined the kingpin of the world's most democratic sport.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
March 30, 2005... Byline: KEN SPENCER BROWN For anyone who watched him bowl, interviewed him or got him to sign an autograph, Dick Weber was more than a great bowler. He was bowling itself. He was easily one of the sport's best players. He won 26...

Imagine It, Rehearse It For Action.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
March 30, 2005... Byline: Cord Cooper 3 Being born out of wedlock in 1963 was the first strike against Jeff Gomez. His mother was Jewish and in her midteens. His father was Puerto Rican. Strike 2: At birth, his delivery was botched, he said: "It...

IBM Exec Will Move To Lenovo; Preps For PC Unit Sale.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(Q & A)
March 30, 2005... Byline: DOUG TSURUOKA After clearing regulatory hurdles in early March, Big Blue is moving ahead with a $1.75 billion deal to sell its PC unit to China's Lenovo Group. Washington officials examined the deal for national security...

Verizon Wins Round In Its Battle For MCI, But Qwest Isn't Done; Cash Issue Could Be Critical; Qwest expected to bypass MCI's board and take its bid directly to shareholders.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
March 30, 2005... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE The six-week fight to buy MCI has turned into a chess match between Qwest Communications and Verizon Communications. And in this game, cash could be king. Qwest suffered the latest blow Tuesday when MCI...

NEW-ISSUE PIPELINE Will Google Coattails Help Online Ad Firm?(THE NEW AMERICA)
March 30, 2005... Byline: Marilyn Much Fastclick Santa Barbara, Calif. (805) 568-5334 fastclick.com Lead underwriters: Credit Suisse First Boston, Citigroup Offering price: $12-$14 Expected date: Week of March 28 ...

CYTEC INDUSTRIES West Paterson, New Jersey; A Paint-By-Numbers Approach To Growth.(THE NEW AMERICA)
March 30, 2005... Byline: PETER BENESH At Cytec Industries, the exciting thing is watching paint dry. The specialty chemical and materials company recently spent $1.87 billion in cash and stock to buy the paint -- or, more precisely, surface...

Fund Renews Portfolio Once A Year; Rebuilds Over Winter; Neil Hennessy holds his picks for full year in Cornerstone Growth.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(MUTUAL FUND PROFILE)
March 30, 2005... Byline: KEN HOOVER You probably envision your mutual fund manager spending his workday peering at flashing numbers on a computer screen, waiting for one more downtick before he plunges in with your money. He might listen intently on...

Resignation, Please.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
March 30, 2005... United Nations: The investigation into the oil-for-food scandal again underscores Secretary-General Kofi Annan's abysmal leadership. So why is he still there? Americans tend to believe in accountability for one's actions -- even for the...

Downwind From Pew.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
March 30, 2005... Free Speech: Was the campaign for campaign finance reform just another big-money front? It seems that those who complain most about the corrupting influence of money in politics know whereof they speak. McCain-Feingold supporters argued...

Beware Of Lagging Relative Strength Line At Breakout.(MAKING MONEY)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
March 30, 2005... Byline: NANCY GONDO Whether you own or want to buy a stock setting up for a breakout, make sure it leads the market. The Relative Strength line helps you gauge how a stock fares by plotting its price performance vs. that of the...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Dow, S&P 500 Reverse To End Near Day's Low.(MAKING MONEY)
March 30, 2005... Byline: NANCY GONDO NYSE stocks started lower Tuesday, then climbed higher, but sold off in the last hours of the session on heavy volume. The Dow and S&P 500 both lost 0.8%, closing just above their intraday lows. Small-cap stocks took...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(GENERAL MARKET & SECTORS)
March 30, 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...

Standard Pacific Sees Pullback To Its 50-Day.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
March 30, 2005... Byline: Nancy Gondo Standard Pacific cleared a long base the week ended Dec. 10 and marched up more than 35% to its Feb. 25 high. The stock has pulled back to its 50-day moving average the past four weeks. It fell below that trend line...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Rally Attempt Reverses In Heavier Volume.(B)
March 30, 2005... Byline: KATHARINE STALTER After falling at the open Tuesday, the Nasdaq attempted a morning rally. The momentum stopped and the index tumbled, ending the session 0.9% lower in heavier volume. J2 Global Communications plummeted 17%,...

Mercury Interactive's Q4 Revenue Up 34%.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
March 30, 2005... Byline: Katharine Stalter Mercury Interactive gapped up in heavy volume in late January, then again in early February. For the past eight weeks it's been forming a base, riding its 50-day moving average. It may have begun shaping the...

Firms' Earnings Quality May Be Getting Worse After Improving Trend; Profit 'Spread' Is Widening; Firms might be tempted to exclude various items, with profit growth slowing.(A)
March 29, 2005... Byline: MARILYN ALVA It's not just credit agencies that care about earnings quality. When investors recently got wind that Doral Financial was having earnings' quality issues, they dumped their shares as fast as it took a jury to...

Search Firms Find Legal Tussles In Using Trademarked Keywords; Google loses to French travel firms; key ruling on Geico U.S. case near.(A)
March 29, 2005... Byline: PETE BARLAS A judgment day is coming for Google and other search companies. A U.S. court soon is expected to make a ruling in a trademark lawsuit that could put a dent in the growth at Google, Yahoo and others that sell...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
March 29, 2005... Stock Gains Fade, Volume Light 1 After notching better gains earlier, the Dow ended up 0.4%, the S&P 500 0.2%, the Nasdaq and S&P 600 less than 0.1%. Volume closed well lower as the market continues to grope for direction. The top 5...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
March 29, 2005... CMS ENERGY will offer 16 mil shares in a shelf offering; it currently has about 195.5 mil common shares outstanding. Shares fell. SAKS said the SEC opened a formal probe into alleged improper vendor payments. The upscale retailer's...

BUSINESS BRIEFS/IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
March 29, 2005... TELECOM Qwest gives MCI deadline for deal Qwest gave MCI until April 5 to accept or reject its $8.45 bil takeover bid. MCI's board had accepted a $6.75 bil offer from Verizon's board, but major MCI investors have pressed directors to...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 29, 2005... RETAIL Walgreen Q2 misses by a penny The drugstore chain's dipped 2.5% to 45.11 after it reported earning 47 cents a share ex items, 14.6% over the year-ago period but a penny below views. Sales rose 12.3% to $11 bil, with same-store...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 29, 2005... INTERNET/TECH Google, Yahoo rise on upgrade Goldman Sachs forecast a 40% appreciation in Google's shares and a 30% rise in Yahoo stock, predicting higher earnings on strong demand for branded and paid searches. Yahoo reports Q1...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
March 29, 2005... MEDICAL AmerisourceBergen warns on '05 The drug wholesaler now expects to make $3.10-$3.50 a share ex items for the year ending in Sept. Analysts were expecting $3.79. AmerisourceBergen blamed contract changes. The industry has...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
March 29, 2005... Brazil balks at IMF loan renewal After improving its public debt and posting a 2nd year of growth, Brazil gives up its spot as the biggest IMF debtor nation when its loan expires this week to end over 6 years of support. Its debt remains...

TRENDS/INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
March 29, 2005... Modified rice lifts vitamin A levels U.K. firm Syngenta has created a genetically modified "golden rice" that includes 20 times the levels of beta carotene as previous varieties. Humans convert beta carotene, which is typically found in...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
March 29, 2005... High court hears death-row case U.S. Supreme Court justices questioned the need to decide the case of a Mexican on death row, after President Bush said the defendant and 50 other Mexican inmates should get new hearings because they...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
March 29, 2005... France, Japan spar on weapons Japan's PM Junichiro Koizumi questioned French President Jacques Chirac over EU willingness to lift the arms embargo on China. Chirac tried to reassure Koizumi the move would not lead to exports of sensitive...

For Earl Tupper, Parties Were A Sales Practicality; Innovate: Plastic products were a tough sell in the '50s, so the Tupperware creator had to seal his deals in family rooms.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(BEST OF LEADERS & SUCCESS)
March 29, 2005... 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,...

DECIDE UPON YOUR TRUE GOALS Talkin' 'Bout Generations.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
March 29, 2005... Byline: Amy Alexander 2 If you're looking to hit a big target this year, keep in mind that the 20-somethings in your company will chase happy endings differently from colleagues in their 30s, 40s and 70s. "At no previous time in our...

Ferdinand Foch, Man Of Valor; Allied Hero: French general commanded disparate armies, and respect, in WWI.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
March 29, 2005... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN The Germans were threatening to overrun Paris. But French general Ferdinand Foch knew what to do. Outnumbered, he ordered his troops to attack. The unsuspecting German army was caught off guard. The French...

U.S. Supreme Court's Brand-X Decision Will Be Crucial For Cable, Telecom Firms; How To Classify Broadband?; Local governments hope to impose cable modem fees, force more network sharing.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
March 29, 2005... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE A legal battle over cable Internet services is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court this week. The issue: how broadband Internet services should be classified -- and whether local governments can collect fees...

Sony, Disney, Warner Said Set To Roll Out Era Of Digital Cinema; Movie Studios Might Foot Bill; Theater owners have fought the movie makers over the $3 billion cost of upgrade.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
March 29, 2005... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON The long-awaited rollout of digital cinema could begin this summer. Major Hollywood studios are said to be close to reaching an agreement on a financing plan that would find them footing a multibillion-dollar bill....

New Generation Of Handheld Devices Puts Video In Your Pocket.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(COMPUTERS MADE PLAIN)
March 29, 2005... Byline: TED NEEDLEMAN After the explosive growth of the iPod and other digital music players, technology companies look to do the same thing with another medium: video. The idea is to put digital video on a host of portable devices,...

TOP TANKERS Athens, Greece; Tanker Firm's Ships Just Keep On Coming In.(THE NEW AMERICA)
March 29, 2005... Byline: MARILYN ALVA Top Tankers has been buying so many new ships lately, you'd think the oil tanker industry was in for many more years of full steam ahead. Most of Top Tankers' 24-vessel fleet came on-board since July. It's a...

Managers Focus On Beating The Bogey; Fund Targets S&P 500; Analytic Disciplined carves off best prospects from benchmark index.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(MUTUAL FUND PROFILE)
March 29, 2005... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN Harindra de Silva doesn't stray from the S&P 500 much. All of his holdings can be found in the benchmark. And his $58.4 million Analytic Disciplined Equity Fund keeps sector weightings in line with the index....

The Big One.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
March 29, 2005... Health: Medicare is even more a fiscal mess than Social Security. And of all government programs, it's the one most urgently in need of ownership-society ideas. Last week, the trustees who oversee the funding of America's old-age safety...

Eternal Vigilance.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
March 29, 2005... Security: President Bush's labeling of citizens on border patrol as "vigilantes" begs the question of whether his meeting with Vicente Fox was, as an Arizona congressman put it, to negotiate the terms of our surrender. It was an...

Democracy With Legs.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
March 29, 2005... Freedom: "When you stand for your liberty," President Bush told the oppressed in his second inaugural, "we will stand with you." Now, one unfree nation after another is getting to its feet. When Bush made that pledge, the media snickered...

A Piece Of The Action.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
March 29, 2005... Taxation: Internal Revenue Service functionaries will unwittingly confirm an adage if they decide to wring tax dollars out of cash from eBay sales. "If it moves, tax it," Ronald Reagan wryly noted about the government's view of the...

Stocks That Form Patternless Bases Tend To Fall Apart.(MAKING MONEY)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
March 29, 2005... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG This informal series on flaws in bases has looked at negative action within recognizable chart patterns. Remember, not all cup-with-handle or double-bottom patterns are sound. Some look similar to the...