Investor's Business Daily articles from November 2002

Investor's Business Daily archives from November 2002

Use A-D Line As Minor Indicator.(A)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
November 29, 2002... Byline: JONAH KERI As the last bear market plunged to lower lows, Wall Street fell all over itself trying to call a bottom. When that happens, beware the parade of secondary indicators. The advance-decline line is one such indicator....

Orders, Chicago Data Hint Summer Doldrums For Economy Are Past Job Claims At 21-Mo. Low Stocks score gains of 3%; personal income report says consumers still eager.(A)
November 29, 2002... Byline: JED GRAHAM A rise in durable goods orders last month and a surprising rebound in Chicago-area manufacturing in November offered evidence Wednesday of a renewed upturn in the factory sector. Meanwhile, the Labor Department...

No Substitute For Solid Strategy, As New, Old America Firms Find Yahoo retools its model as Wells Fargo deploys customer service effort.(A)
November 29, 2002... Byline: MARILYN ALVA Born in the mid '90s at the dawn of the Internet boom, Yahoo enjoyed some wild and reckless years. Its main goal: Get big fast. And it did, building out as many Web-based services as it could to lure site...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(A)(AFTER THE CLOSE)
November 29, 2002... SEC CHIEF of Staff Mark Radke will leave the agency to enter the private sector. He joined the SEC in Aug. '01, a month after Chairman Harvey Pitt, who recently quit. WALT DISNEY canceled a Caribbean voyage by its Magic cruise ship so it...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
November 29, 2002... DEFENSE Northrop: TRW deal nearing OK Northrop Grumman says the Pentagon seems to have signed off on its planned $6.6 bil buy of its rival defense contractor. It expects to close the deal on Dec. 11. But the Pentagon says it's...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
November 29, 2002... FINANCE More shady CSFB e-mail surfaces In a Nov. '00 e-mail, banker Frank Quattrone asked a colleague about Agile Software: "What have we extracted from them on banking side to get this coverage?" Other e-mails show Credit Suisse...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
November 29, 2002... MEDICAL Claritin gets over-the-counter OK The prescription allergy drug could be on drugstore shelves by mid-Dec., days before its patent expires. The FDA OK'd five versions, including 12- and 24-hour Claritin-D, with a decongestant....

THE ECONOMY.(A)
November 29, 2002... Consumer confidence rebounds The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index climbed to a revised 84.2 in Nov., up from 80.6 in Oct. but below the initial 85. The expectations index rose to 78.5 from 73.1 in Oct. The current...

NATION.(A)
November 29, 2002... U.S. green light to Mexico trucks President Bush, complying with NAFTA, gave the go-ahead for Mexican trucks to travel U.S. roads beyond commercial border zones where they have been restricted while inspection sites and new regulations...

WORLD.(A)
November 29, 2002... Intifada a failure, says Arafat aide Mahmoud Abbas, Yasser Arafat's top deputy, said the armed uprising against Israel has been a disaster to Palestinians and must stop. Meanwhile, extremists press on with bombings and shootings. ...

WORK HARD Pursuit Of Perfection.(A)(IBD 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
November 29, 2002... Byline: Cord Cooper 5Rudolf Diesel replaced the steam engine with a machine that functioned despite wide-ranging internal temperatures. His engine revolutionized several industries. Nikola Tesla developed fluorescent lighting and...

His Perseverance Defined Success Innovate: Noah Webster's love for American language made his dictionary tops.(A)
November 29, 2002... Byline: PETE BARLAS Noah Webster spent more than 20 years researching and writing his American Dictionary of the English Language. It was America's first dictionary and contained 70,000 words. He completed the tome in 1828. But...

Paul Allen Still Key To Charter's Future Its Debt Worries Some Cable company facing a number of probes; may look to restructure.(A)
November 29, 2002... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE Odds are growing that Charter Communications Inc., the fourth-biggest cable TV firm, will restructure, with shareholders getting pinched by a debt-for-equity swap. So said UBS Warburg and Morgan Stanley...

New Book Claims AT&T's Armstrong Botched Cable Strategy And Built Tax Problem Deal-maker Hindery lobs many criticisms at his one-time boss.(A)
November 29, 2002... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE In an upcoming book, former AT&T Corp. executive Leo Hindery says the long-distance phone company's cable TV strategy fell apart when Chairman Michael Armstrong botched negotiations with Time Warner Inc. ...

Pervasive Intelligence = Pervasive Intel Networks That Can "Think' That's a computing world according to Paul Otellini, who has a big say about it.(A)
November 29, 2002... Byline: JAMES DETAR Imagine a computer network that creates itself. Its sensors then begin sniffing around on the Web, looking for other networks with which to merge. When it finds a compatible network, it hooks up in an organic fashion...

Consumers Confident About Web More Online Purchases Convenience is primary online buying motivator, says one Gartner analyst.(A)(COMPUTERS MADE PLAIN)
November 29, 2002... Byline: DAVID NOACK An avid shopper, Sue Brown is gearing up for the frantic holiday season by heading online. She's part of a growing breed of shoppers who feel just as comfortable at Internet shops as they do at the mall. The...

Schlumberger's In Training For '04 Olympics Bigger Than Salt Lake Top tech integrator says system development is on schedule for games.(A)(Q AND A)
November 29, 2002... Byline: MICHAEL KREY Frenchman Claude Philipps is starting to pick up a little Greek. Why not? After all, he's spent much of the last 18 months in Athens. And he'll have plenty more time to learn. He leads Schlumberger Ltd.'s team...

Bisk Is Basking As Web Classes Remain Popular Graduate's First Campus Visit.(A)
November 29, 2002... Byline: Michael Krey "It's the last day of school, but it feels like the first." That was Morgan Hezlep's opening line when she spoke, at special invitation, to the board of Florida's St. Leo University before graduating last May....

RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC Dublin, Ireland Demand Spurs Growth For Low-Cost Carrier Good Times In Europe This company follows U.S. model to win market share across the Atlantic.(A)
November 29, 2002... Byline: MARILYN ALVA European discount airline Ryanair Holdings PLC can't seem to avoid comparisons to its U.S. counterpart. That's not such a bad thing, considering that the company it's compared to, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines...

DAKTRONICS INC. Brookings, South Dakota Upon Further Review, This Firm Scores Big.(A)
November 29, 2002... Byline: MARILYN ALVA The defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots weren't the only winners of this season's opening game at Gillette Stadium, where they trounced the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-14. The new stadium also was home...

Small Caps Fueled Stock Funds In Nov. U.S. Funds Gained 5.1% World, bond portfolios lagged during month; managers see tech ignite.(A)
November 29, 2002... Byline: DAN MOREAU Small-cap growth funds rode a stock market rally to solid gains in November, and led performance among mutual fund classes, according to Lipper Inc.'s preliminary data for the month. Small-cap growth funds jumped...

Afghan Thanksgiving.(A)(EDITORIALS)
November 29, 2002... Middle East: Is the risk of innocents dying from collateral damage a compelling reason to avoid conflict with Iraq? Not if the experience in Afghanistan is a guide. A year ago the media couldn't help but dwell on deaths and injuries in...

Think Locally.(A)(EDITORIALS)
November 29, 2002... Oil: Drilling on Alaska's North Slope won't kill off the caribou or free us from imports. But it would help Alaskans. That should count for something. It may be too much to ask, but we'd like to hear a fact-based debate on the subject of...

Americans Don't Understand Islam As It Is, Historian Says.(A)(NATIONAL ISSUE)
November 29, 2002... Byline: BRIAN MITCHELL Historian Serge Trifkovic saw his homeland torn apart when the Muslim government in Bosnia declared its independence from Yugoslavia in 1992. The move reopened old wounds and led to years of fighting. The...

Economic Data Fuel Big Gains On NYSE.(B)
November 29, 2002... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG The S&P 500 vaulted 2.8% Wednesday to its highest close since Aug. 26. The Dow rose 2.9%. NYSE volume slowed ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Pre-Paid Legal Services jumped 1.53 to 26.63 on fast turnover....

Profits Rise Steadily For Tech Consultant.(B)
November 29, 2002... Byline: David Saito-Chung Caci International tripled in price after breaking out in April 2001 to a high of 43.50 in late December. The stock is now near the top of an 11-month base. The Arlington, Va.-based firm provides systems...

Nasdaq Heads Into Holiday With Tasty 3% Gain.(B)
November 29, 2002... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Upbeat economic data lifted techs to strong gains Wednesday in lighter preholiday trade. The Nasdaq composite rose 3%, led by chip and fiber-optic stocks. The Nasdaq 100 surged 3.5%. SafeNet notched a 52-week high...

Generic-Drug Maker Attracts Mutual Funds.(B)
November 29, 2002... Byline: Craig Shaw Taro Pharmaceutical rose sixfold between September 2000 and July 2001. Since then it's been digesting its gains by forming a long cup-shaped base. It's 10% off its high. The Israeli generic drug maker's profit...

Orders, Chicago Data Hint Summer Doldrums For Economy Are Past; Job Claims At 21-Mo. Low; Stocks score gains of 3%; personal income report says consumers still eager.(A)
November 29, 2002... Byline: JED GRAHAM A rise in durable goods orders last month and a surprising rebound in Chicago-area manufacturing in November offered evidence Wednesday of a renewed upturn in the factory sector. Meanwhile, the Labor Department...

No Substitute For Solid Strategy, As New, Old America Firms Find; Yahoo retools its model as Wells Fargo deploys customer service effort.(A)(MANAGING A SUCCESSFUL COMPANY)
November 29, 2002... Byline: MARILYN ALVA Born in the mid '90s at the dawn of the Internet boom, Yahoo enjoyed some wild and reckless years. Its main goal: Get big fast. And it did, building out as many Web-based services as it could to lure site...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
November 29, 2002... Stocks Soar Broadly; Bonds Tank 1The Nasdaq led again, up 3% for its highest close since June 19. Semiconductor, Internet security and scientific instruments led. The Dow rose 2.9% and the S&P 500 2.8%. Volume eased ahead of Thanksgiving....

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
November 29, 2002... TRANSPORTATION Saab to ax 1,300 jobs in Sweden After denying published reports on Tuesday that it would cut that many, the GM unit said it would after all. That's 14% of its work force. Saab, which has posted a profit only twice...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
November 29, 2002... MEDICAL Claritin gets over-the-counter OK The prescription allergy drug could be on drugstore shelves by mid-Dec., days before its patent expires. The FDA OK'd five versions, including 12- and 24-hour Claritin-D, with a decongestant....

Webster At A Glance.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
November 29, 2002... Webster At A Glance Born: 1758 in Hartford, Conn. Died: 1843 in New Haven, Conn. Education: Graduated from Yale University in 1778. Passed the state bar exam in 1780. Achievements: ** Produced the American Dictionary of...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
November 29, 2002... Eli Lilly rose 8% after the drug firm got FDA OK for its Strattera attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder drug earlier than analysts forecast. Vodafone bought France Telecom's 10.85% stake in its Greek unit for $308 mil, upping its...

His Perseverance Defined Success; Innovate: Noah Webster's love for American language made his dictionary tops.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
November 29, 2002... Byline: PETE BARLAS Noah Webster spent more than 20 years researching and writing his American Dictionary of the English Language. It was America's first dictionary and contained 70,000 words. He completed the tome in 1828. But...

Paul Allen Still Key To Charter's Future; Its Debt Worries Some; Cable company facing a number of probes; may look to restructure.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 29, 2002... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE Odds are growing that Charter Communications Inc., the fourth-biggest cable TV firm, will restructure, with shareholders getting pinched by a debt-for-equity swap. So said UBS Warburg and Morgan Stanley...

New Book Claims AT&T's Armstrong Botched Cable Strategy; And Built Tax Problem; Deal-maker Hindery lobs many criticisms at his one-time boss.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 29, 2002... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE In an upcoming book, former AT&T Corp. executive Leo Hindery says the long-distance phone company's cable TV strategy fell apart when Chairman Michael Armstrong botched negotiations with Time Warner Inc. ...

Pervasive Intelligence = Pervasive Intel; Networks That Can "Think'; That's a computing world according to Paul Otellini, who has a big say about it.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 29, 2002... Byline: JAMES DETAR Imagine a computer network that creates itself. Its sensors then begin sniffing around on the Web, looking for other networks with which to merge. When it finds a compatible network, it hooks up in an organic fashion...

Consumers Confident About Web; More Online Purchases; Convenience is primary online buying motivator, says one Gartner analyst.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(COMPUTERS MADE PLAIN: HOLIDAY SHOPPING)
November 29, 2002... Byline: DAVID NOACK Last Of Three Parts An avid shopper, Sue Brown is gearing up for the frantic holiday season by heading online. She's part of a growing breed of shoppers who feel just as comfortable at Internet shops as they...

Schlumberger's In Training For '04 Olympics; Bigger Than Salt Lake; Top tech integrator says system development is on schedule for games.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(Q & A)
November 29, 2002... Byline: MICHAEL KREY Frenchman Claude Philipps is starting to pick up a little Greek. Why not? After all, he's spent much of the last 18 months in Athens. And he'll have plenty more time to learn. He leads Schlumberger Ltd.'s team...

Bisk Is Basking As Web Classes Remain Popular; Graduate's First Campus Visit.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 29, 2002... Byline: Michael Krey "It's the last day of school, but it feels like the first." That was Morgan Hezlep's opening line when she spoke, at special invitation, to the board of Florida's St. Leo University before graduating last May....

RYANAIR HOLDINGS PLC Dublin, Ireland; Demand Spurs Growth For Low-Cost Carrier; Good Times In Europe; This company follows U.S. model to win market share across the Atlantic.(THE NEW AMERICA)
November 29, 2002... Byline: MARILYN ALVA European discount airline Ryanair Holdings PLC can't seem to avoid comparisons to its U.S. counterpart. That's not such a bad thing, considering that the company it's compared to, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines...

DAKTRONICS INC. Brookings, South Dakota; Upon Further Review, This Firm Scores Big.(THE NEW AMERICA)
November 29, 2002... Byline: MARILYN ALVA The defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots weren't the only winners of this season's opening game at Gillette Stadium, where they trounced the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-14. The new stadium also was home...

KEY FUNDS HOLDINGS.(MUTUAL FUNDS)
November 29, 2002... Key Fund Holdings / Brown Shoe was a top holding of Pimco Small Cap Value Fund in the latest reporting period. Brown Shoe's stock had a strong uptrend the first half of this year. Since peaking at 28.10 on June 28, the stock has etched a...

LETTERS.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)
November 29, 2002... Terrorists In The Board Room "Markets Are Quick To Judge When Firms Fail To Behave" (Brain Trust, Nov. 21) should have been titled "The Other Front" (Editorial, Nov. 21). Not only do we have foreign terrorists to contend with, we have...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Economic Data Fuel Big Gains On NYSE.(MAKING MONEY)
November 29, 2002... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG The S&P 500 vaulted 2.8% Wednesday to its highest close since Aug. 26. The Dow rose 2.9%. NYSE volume slowed ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Pre-Paid Legal Services jumped 1.53 to 26.63 on fast turnover....

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Heads Into Holiday With Tasty 3% Gain.(B)
November 29, 2002... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Upbeat economic data lifted techs to strong gains Wednesday in lighter preholiday trade. The Nasdaq composite rose 3%, led by chip and fiber-optic stocks. The Nasdaq 100 surged 3.5%. SafeNet notched a 52-week high...

Track Volume Changes To Find Huge Winners.(A)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
November 27, 2002... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG When an ace fund manager really wants a stock that's moving up, he doesn't buy 1,000 shares. He'll get 10,000, 100,000 or a million. Now, imagine 10, 15 or more equally sharp money managers who also want...

GDP Grew At 4% Clip In Q3 On Restocking; Confidence Turns Up Oct. New-Home Sales Hot Business tech spending expands at a 6.6% rate; corporate earnings weak.(A)
November 27, 2002... Byline: JED GRAHAM The economy grew a faster-than-expected 4% in the third quarter, up from the Commerce Department's first estimate of 3.1%. New-home sales stayed red-hot in October at a 1.007 million annual rate. That was below...

Airlines' Paltry Customer Service Takes A Holiday Amid Cutbacks More Fees, Nuisances.(A)
November 27, 2002... Byline: PETE BARLAS Is customer service a misnomer in the airline industry? Akron, Ohio, resident Bob Zajac thinks so. This month, Zajac and his wife were bumped from a Moscow-to-Paris Aeroflot flight even though they had tickets in...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(A)(AFTER THE CLOSE)
November 27, 2002... NOVELLUS expects to earn 11 cents and $211 mil in sales in Q4, in line with the Street. The chip gear maker raised booking forecasts. Novellus rose after hours. SUN MICRO sees Q2 sales in line with views for $2.92 bil. VERINT SYSTEMS...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
November 27, 2002... MEDICAL FDA OKs Lilly osteoporosis drug The drug maker's Forteo stimulates new bone formation in osteoporosis patients. But it must carry the FDA's most serious "black box" warning about cancer risk. The drug caused cancer in rats,...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
November 27, 2002... TRANSPORTATION US Air lays off 2,500, eyes more The bankrupt airline will make the furloughs over three months. The carrier also will seek work rule and benefit changes and close two facilities in Florida. US Air has already secured...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(A)
November 27, 2002... RETAIL Asbestos puts brakes on AutoZone The No. 1 U.S. auto parts retailer and other car-related firms were named as defendants in asbestos suits involving the sale of brake parts. AutoZone and rival Pep Boys said the suits won't...

THE ECONOMY.(A)
November 27, 2002... Small business confidence falls A survey of 1,000 business owners by research firm Greenwich Associates found 23% of small companies and 28% of midsize firms think the economy will weaken over the next six months. In June, just 13% of...

NATION.(A)
November 27, 2002... 105 on terror list got U.S. visas The foreign men were supposed to be barred from entering the U.S. because their names appeared on government lists of suspected terrorists. The visas have since been revoked, but it wasn't clear whether...

WORLD.(A)
November 27, 2002... Reporter named in death "fatwa' The decree by a Muslim state in Nigeria urged death to a newspaper reporter who wrote a story suggesting Mohammad might have married a contestant in the Miss World pageant. The story sparked deadly riots....

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(A)
November 27, 2002... Borders flowing, even after 9-11 Some 2 mil legal and illegal immigrants have entered the U.S. since '00, despite the terror attack, a security clampdown and slow economy, says the Center for Immigration Studies. The group wants less...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(A)
November 27, 2002... ** Drinking a few beers a day reduces levels of C-reactive protein, a compound linked to heart problems, says a study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. ** Blocking the myostatin gene in mice slows muscular dystrophy...

TAKE ACTION Tuesday's Second Dawn.(A)(IBD 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
November 27, 2002... Byline: Cord Cooper 3When Tuesday Morning CEO Kathleen Mason took over in August 2000, the chain was in disarray. The former chief executive had just died. Inventory was mounting at scattered warehouses. Merchandise wasn't arriving in...

Da Vinci Perceived No Limits Think Big: Boundless curiosity drove him to greatness in art, science, inventing.(A)
November 27, 2002... Byline: MICHAEL MINK Leonardo da Vinci didn't just look at the world around him. He studied it. He analyzed it. He reflected on it. Then he wrote of "knowing how to see" the world and its possibilities. The process helped him become...

Sun-Microsoft Platform Competition Complicates Web Services Firms Caught In The Middle Companies in a quandary: Do they pick .Net or Java or work with both systems?(A)
November 27, 2002... Byline: J. BONASIA In a bit of deja vu, Microsoft Corp. is feuding with much of the tech industry over Web services. Microsoft is pushing its .Net platform as the backbone of Web services -- a movement to link disparate computing...

BlackBerry's Maker Is Making Alliances Moving Beyond E-Mail RIM inks partnerships with Nokia and Nextel to broaden its markets.(A)
November 27, 2002... Byline: MIKE ANGELL As the wireless messaging market heats up, Research In Motion Ltd. is cozying up to the competition. RIM is known mostly for its wireless e-mail devices, called BlackBerry. The BlackBerry dominates its market...

Gadgets Would Be Great Stuffers For This Year's Holiday Stockings Gear For Music, Video Hottest items include devices that let users take music on the road.(A)(COMPUTERS MADE PLAIN)
November 27, 2002... Byline: TED NEEDLEMAN With the holidays right around the corner, it's time to start hunting for gifts. If any of your loved ones are into electronics, there is a treasure trove of options this year. The economic slump hasn't slowed...

Fewer Buyers Giving The Big Thumbs-Up To Handheld PC Gear '02 Worst Sales Growth Year Cell phone/PDA devices are beginning to replace traditional handheld units.(A)
November 27, 2002... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ For handhelds, 2002 will be hands down their worst year for sales growth. Sales of handheld computers this year are projected to fall for the first time on an annual basis, says market tracker International Data...

CIO Boot Camp Draws A Crowd Despite Economy Maximizing Investments In IT.(A)
November 27, 2002... Byline: MICHAEL KREY David Bergen, chief information officer for clothier Levi Strauss & Co., got a surprise when he attended research firm Meta Group Inc.'s recent CIO Boot Camp. The place was packed. Meta usually gets about 55...

LANNETT CO. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Combination Of Market, Operating Strategy Keeps Drug Maker Busy.(A)
November 27, 2002... Byline: KEN SPENCER BROWN To most brand-name drug makers, people like Lannett Co. President Arthur Bedrosian represent the industry's bottom-feeders -- leeches in lab coats profiting from other companies' sweat and innovation. Though...

Stock Funds Shed $7.7 Bil In October Less Than Sept. Outflow Fund groups see return of inflow amid rally; bond fund inflow slows.(A)
November 27, 2002... Byline: DAN MOREAU Investors hauled $7.71 billion from stock funds in October, the fifth straight month of outflow. The last time such a long stretch of net redemptions occurred was in 1988. In that year, June was the only month that...

In With The New.(A)(EDITORIALS)
November 27, 2002... Economic Stimulus: Why did Willie Sutton rob banks? That's where the money was. Why do we push incentives to start new businesses? That's where the jobs are. Nothing against established companies. But most say they aren't adding jobs now...

Germany's Tax Tune.(A)(EDITORIALS)
November 27, 2002... Europe: You probably haven't heard the latest German hit, "Der Steuersong," or "The Tax Song." But you can bet German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has. It's a catchy little ditty that angrily satirizes the spate of new taxes Schroeder...

Be Thankful: Americans Are Living In The Good Ol' Days.(A)(NATIONAL ISSUE)
November 27, 2002... Byline: STEPHEN MOORE ** Stephen Moore As an optimist (or realist), in keeping with Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp and Julian Simon, I wince when I hear complaining about how bad things are compared with "the good ol' days." When exactly...

NYSE Stocks Drop As Volume Recedes.(B)
November 27, 2002... Byline: JONAH KERI Stocks gave back ample ground Tuesday, but lighter volume softened the blow. The Dow industrials fell 2%, the S&P 500 2.1%. Only 15 of the 197 industries tracked by IBD finished up for the day. Several medical...

Pre-Paid Legal Forms Eight-Month Pattern.(B)
November 27, 2002... Byline: Jonah Keri Pre-Paid Legal Services rallied threefold from its March 2001 low to a 52-week high in March of this year. The stock has since formed an eight-month base and sits 20% off its high. Though the stock traded as high as...

Nasdaq Slumps 2.5% As Chips, Medicals Suffer.(B)
November 27, 2002... Byline: CRAIG SHAW The Nasdaq declined 2.5% in lighter trade Tuesday as consumer confidence missed views and Semtech's sales warning dragged on chipmakers. The Nasdaq 100 slumped 3.5%. Idexx Laboratories dived 4.26, or 11.8%, to...

Embedded-Chip Maker Sees Profitable Future.(B)
November 27, 2002... Byline: Craig Shaw In a blast from the recent past, eight of IBD's top 10 industry groups suddenly hail from the tech sector. Techs have led the market rally the past several weeks, dishing up a healthy supply of breakouts. As always,...

GDP Grew At 4% Clip In Q3 On Restocking; Confidence Turns Up; Oct. New-Home Sales Hot; Business tech spending expands at a 6.6% rate; corporate earnings weak.(A)
November 27, 2002... Byline: JED GRAHAM The economy grew a faster-than-expected 4% in the third quarter, up from the Commerce Department's first estimate of 3.1%. New-home sales stayed red-hot in October at a 1.007 million annual rate. That was below...

Airlines' Paltry Customer Service Takes A Holiday Amid Cutbacks; More Fees, Nuisances.(A)
November 27, 2002... Byline: PETE BARLAS Is customer service a misnomer in the airline industry? Akron, Ohio, resident Bob Zajac thinks so. This month, Zajac and his wife were bumped from a Moscow-to-Paris Aeroflot flight even though they had tickets in...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
November 27, 2002... Confidence Gauge Rises In Nov. 1Consumer confidence rose to 84.1 from Oct.'s 79.6, ending a five-month string of drops, the Conference Board reported. But the gain from Oct.'s nine-year low was less than expected. Just 16% of consumers...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
November 27, 2002... TELECOM Genuity, Level 3 deal seen soon High-speed Web services firm Genuity is nearing an agreement to sell its assets to Level 3 Communications as part of a prepackaged bankruptcy, sources said. Level 3 has been snapping up...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
November 27, 2002... RETAIL Asbestos puts brakes on AutoZone The No. 1 U.S. auto parts retailer and other car-related firms were named as defendants in asbestos suits involving the sale of brake parts. AutoZone and rival Pep Boys said the suits won't...

Da Vinci At A Glance.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
November 27, 2002... Da Vinci At A Glance Born: 1452 in Vinci, Italy. Died: 1519 in Italy. Education: Tutored at home and apprenticed. Achievements: ** Painted the world-renowned "Last Supper" (1497) and "Mona Lisa" (1506). ** Sketched...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
November 27, 2002... Williams Cos. will sell its Tennessee refinery to oil refiner Premcor for $465 mil as the energy marketer sheds assets to cut debt. Warren Buffett shouldn't buy Burger King, because it sells unhealthy foods, says Omaha businessman Phil...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
November 27, 2002... ** Drinking a few beers a day reduces levels of C-reactive protein, a compound linked to heart problems, says a study in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. ** Blocking the myostatin gene in mice slows muscular dystrophy...