Investor's Business Daily articles from November 2003, page 3

Investor's Business Daily archives from November 2003

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
November 20, 2003... FCC won't block number switch The agency's chairman, Michael Powell, said he doubted any delay in the right of customers to move home telephone numbers to wireless phones, despite a request from some local telephone companies. Starting...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
November 20, 2003... AMC and Loews are mulling a merger that would create North America's No. 2 movie house chain. AMC bought bankrupt rival General Cinema last year. Loews was bought in bankruptcy in March '02. Martin Leach, ex-Ford Europe chief, is suing...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
November 20, 2003... Illness stops Egypt's president Sneezing and coughing, Hosni Mubarak abruptly left the podium during a speech on national TV. The 75-year-old president, who has no official successor and is believed to be grooming his son to follow him,...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
November 20, 2003... Health costs raise future worries A survey released by American Express Financial Advisors found 73% of employees worry about the impact rising health care costs have on their future. 34% of respondents cited the increase in health care...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
November 20, 2003... ** Scandinavia tops the world in Internet access, according to the International Telecommunications Union, but Asia is catching up fast. Sweden, Denmark and Iceland were the top 3 countries, with South Korea fourth. Norway, Taiwan and Hong...

Dell May Be At The Movies; Microsoft Heads To College.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 20, 2003... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ Interviews this week at the Comdex trade show found Dell may be going to the movies, and Microsoft seeking BMOC status. Dell Inc. might offer a movie download service like Movielink.com or CinemaNow to round out...

Callidus IPO Could Test Waters For Others; First Software Offering In '03.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 20, 2003... Byline: J. BONASIA All eyes are on Callidus Software Inc. as it tries to jump-start the software field with an initial public offering. The Callidus deal -- slated for Thursday -- would mark the first IPO by a software company this...

Comdex Still Attracts Big Foreign Numbers; 30% Of Floor Non-U.S.; International contingent focuses on partnerships, outsourcing and wireless.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 20, 2003... Byline: DONNA HOWELL Firms from South Korea to Sweden are exhibiting at Comdex, the tech trade show under way in Las Vegas this week. Their numbers, and the wares they've brought along to display, mirror tech trends seen in the U.S....

PalmSource Looking To Boost Licensing Revenue; New Operating System; Secure wireless features more integrated now, says the chief executive.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(Q & A)
November 20, 2003... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ Since spinning off from handheld maker Palm Inc. last month, Palm software developer PalmSource Inc. has focused on two things: finishing a new operating system and finding a path to profitability. So says...

COSTAR GROUP INC. Bethesda, Maryland; Sometimes You Need To Hit The Road To Make It On The Street.(THE NEW AMERICA)
November 20, 2003... Byline: ADELIA CELLINI LINECKER If your company is successful but hardly anyone notices, is it really successful? Not if potential investors are passing you by. That's the problem Andrew Florance faced as chief executive of CoStar...

Selling Your Message.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
November 20, 2003... Byline: Cord Cooper 9 No matter what your position, you're selling yourself every time you communicate. You're either getting the desired result, creating opportunities or selling yourself short, communications coach Len Serafino says in...

A Grand Champion Of Tennis; Work To Play: Martina Navratilova trained hard while rushing to the top.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
November 20, 2003... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG Martina Navratilova embraced a shining moment at the 1989 U.S. Open final. And she didn't even win it. German powerhouse Steffi Graf came back from one set down to beat Navratilova and win her second...

Managers Say Tech Rally Still Has Legs; Broad Earnings Growth; Recovery by economy and rally in IT spending are keys to sector's run.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(INVESTMENT TRENDS)
November 20, 2003... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF There seems to be no stopping technology funds. Their 47.73% gain for the year going into Wednesday topped all sectors, except for gold's 55.27%, Lipper Inc. says. And before falling 4.8% in the past two weeks,...

Europe's Chance.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
November 20, 2003... Foreign Affairs: The ordinarily low-key Colin Powell had some harsh words Tuesday for the European plan to contain Iran's nuclear program. His unusual tone suggests that there is an urgency about the issue. The administration's tough...

Daylight In D.C.?(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
November 20, 2003... Vouchers: Congress is poised to take one small step for children in the nation's capital. In terms of political precedent, it's a giant and long-overdue leap. Sometime soon, perhaps even as you read this, the Senate could be voting on a...

Some See A Grinch Behind States' Plans To Tax Internet.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(VIEWPOINT)
November 20, 2003... Byline: JACK KEMP Imagine waking up this Christmas morning to discover the Grinch had slapped a tax on logging onto the Internet, sending an e-mail and visiting a Web site -- or worse, redefined the entire Internet as just another...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Rebound Lifts Indexes Above Support Lines.(MAKING MONEY)
November 20, 2003... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Stocks snapped a four-day losing streak Wednesday as an upbeat forecast from General Electric helped blue chips. The Dow industrials rose 0.7%, the S&P 500 0.8%. Volume was subpar, but both indexes bounced back above...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(GENERAL MARKET & SECTORS)
November 20, 2003... 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...

Medical Supply Firm Tracing 8-Week Base.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
November 20, 2003... Byline: Craig Shaw West Pharmaceutical Services has digested its gains the past eight weeks after running up 33% from its Aug. 1 breakout. The stock has hovered around its 50-day moving average the past two weeks after reaching a...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Bounces Back, But Volume Slips Lower.(B)
November 20, 2003... Byline: IBD STAFF The Nasdaq traced some recent losses Wednesday, though volume dropped to its lowest level this week. The composite index rose 1%, as did the Nasdaq 100. Despite the day's gains, breakouts were rare. Still, a few...

Gen-Probe Seeking Right-Side Volume.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
November 20, 2003... Byline: Jonah Keri As noted last week, Gen-Probe continues to trace a base, now eight weeks long. As noted in Wednesday's Investor's Corner, you don't want to see multiple signs of adverse volume as a stock forms a base. Gen-Probe's...

Track Emerging Leaders With My Stock Lists.(THE SMART INVESTOR)(INVESTORS.COM CORNER)
November 20, 2003... Byline: KEN SHREVE To generate stock ideas that lead to consistent profits, you must be organized. Then you'll be ready to pounce on stocks as they break out of sound chart patterns. You can keep your stock ideas organized by using...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
November 20, 2003... BUSINESS OUTLOOK CEOs see economy expanding The latest PriceWaterhouseCoopers Management Barometer reports that 60% of surveyed executives from multinational firms are optimistic about the economy over the next 12 months, up from 26%...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
November 20, 2003... REGULATION Senate tries options compromise Five Senators proposed making companies expense stock options given to their CEO and the 4 other highest-paid execs, but not to rank and file. That largely follows a proposal by Intel CEO...

SEC Chairman Outlines Fund Reform Plans; Slamming Brakes On Timers; Donaldson tells senators new risk assessment office will spot problems earlier.(A)
November 19, 2003... Byline: KEN HOOVER Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson unveiled Tuesday a package of reforms he hopes will restore investor confidence in the mutual fund industry, tarnished by trading abuses in firms previously...

Medicare Drug Benefit Bill Lacks Stiff Cost Controls; Stripped-Down Compromise; Conservatives claim plan is too costly; Democrats argue for more coverage.(A)
November 19, 2003... Byline: SEAN HIGGINS Congress is now fighting over what is in the Medicare prescription drug bill. But what's not in the bill may be the real killer: cost containment. Despite a push by conservative lawmakers and groups to keep the...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
November 19, 2003... Dollar Plunges To Low Vs. Euro 1The euro surged to a record high vs. the greenback, fueled by the U.S.' decision to impose new quotas on Chinese textiles, raising fears of increased protectionism. Also, a report showed foreign buys of...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
November 19, 2003... ANALOG DEVICES made 25 cents a share ex-items profit in Q4, up 56%, beating views by 2 cents and topping Q4 '02 by 9 cents. The chipmaker initiated a dividend at 4 cents a quarter. NETWORK APPLIANCE met views for 9 cents a share ex-items,...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
November 19, 2003... MEDIA Time Warner Music gets new bid An investor group including media mogul Edgar Bronfman Jr. is prepping a $2.5 bil bid for the music business and its publishing arm. No. 3 record company EMI offered $1 bil and a 20%-25% equity...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
November 19, 2003... TELECOM Vodafone up on results, buyback The world's top cell phone operator said it'll buy back $4.2 bil in shares, a week after rivals BT and Telefonica set buybacks. Vodafone hiked its dividend by 20%. Its first-half profit rose...

Engle At A Glance.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
November 19, 2003... Engle At A Glance Born: 1942 in Syracuse, N.Y. Education: B.A. in physics from Williams College in 1964. M.S. in physics from Cornell University in 1966. Ph.D. in economics from Cornell in 1969. Achievements: ** Won the...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
November 19, 2003... Retailers deliver mixed showing Instinet Research's Redbook average rose 3.9% last week from the same week last year. So far this month, it's up 4% from year-ago levels, but down 2.9% from the same period in Nov. Separately, a joint...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
November 19, 2003... Prudential Financial got South Korea's OK to buy 2 money management businesses owned by carmaker Hyundai, but government-controlled since the '97-98 financial crisis. In March, Prudential said it'd pay $400 mil for 80% of the firms. ...

NATION/WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
November 19, 2003... Arnold calls legislature back California's new governor asked lawmakers to return for a special session. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he wants them to reform workers' compensation laws, deal with the budget deficit and repeal a bill...

DON'T BE AFRAID TO INNOVATE; BE DIFFERENT; No Focus Groups Here.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
November 19, 2003... Byline: Robin Grugal 8 When advertising executive Mary Lou Quinlan drafted on a paper napkin her goal to become "the most compelling interpreter of women's voices in the marketplace," she knew her success would require breaking a few...

Robert Engle's Arch Thinking; Blazing Trails: Economist takes risks to dampen them for the finance industry.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
November 19, 2003... Byline: JED GRAHAM After spending his first year of graduate school in a basement, Robert F. Engle decided it was time for a change. He'd been working with liquid nitrogen and studying superconductivity. Except he wasn't having fun....

Comdex Show Gives Big Play To On-Demand; A Move To Share Resources; This type of computing is being pushed forward by IBM, HP, Sun, others.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 19, 2003... Byline: DONNA HOWELL The Comdex trade show under way in Las Vegas this week focuses on seven tech themes. Four are wireless, security, Windows and open source computing, best exemplified by Linux. The other three are...

Does Technology Matter? Panel Resumes The Debate; Innovation Vs. Productivity; IBM, Microsoft executives discuss some major issues with Harvard article author.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 19, 2003... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ A Comdex panel questioned a Harvard Business Review article suggesting tech no longer gives companies a competitive advantage. Executives from IBM Corp. and Microsoft Corp. debated Nicholas Carr, the author of...

Copying Xerox: HP Unveils New Photocopier Line; Pushing Into Big Businesses; Challenges abound for HP, which failed to dent market in its late-1990s attempt.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 19, 2003... Byline: Patrick Seitz and Ken Spencer Brown Looking to sell more imaging and printing gear to large companies, Hewlett-Packard Co. announced several new initiatives Tuesday, including plans to enter the high-end copier business. HP...

Fewer Techies To Lose Their Jobs This Year; Businesses Buying Technology.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 19, 2003... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON The outlook for tech employment is less bleak than it's been lately, says a report due out today from the American Electronics Association. That coincides with views that tech spending is on the rise. The AEA...

Motorola, Nokia, Samsung Want Shoppers To Multitask; Versatile New Phones; Holiday handsets can do far more than mere task of linking phone callers.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 19, 2003... Byline: MIKE ANGELL If your Christmas wish list includes a digital camera, music player and electronic game machine, maybe you should just get a cell phone instead. Mobile phone makers are releasing new handsets for the holidays --...

ALLIANCE GAMING CORP. Las Vegas, Nevada; Slot Machine Maker Drops Its Coins Into An Acquisition.(THE NEW AMERICA)
November 19, 2003... Byline: KIRK SHINKLE Gamblers can be found in every nook and cranny of the U.S., from flashy Vegas casinos to more humble Native American-run bingo halls. To reach more of them, slot machine maker Alliance Gaming Corp. is bulking up...

Team Powers Salomon Small Growth; Manager Feitler Steers; Sector managers select the names for industries; tech is biggest weighting.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(MUTUAL FUND PROFILE)
November 19, 2003... Byline: STEVE WATKINS Bob Feitler isn't so much a fund manager as he is an orchestrator. As the team leader of the Salomon Bros. Small Cap Growth Fund, he organizes and balances nine different sector managers. The managers do their...

Anarchy In The U.K.?(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
November 19, 2003... Britain: With the papier-mache heads again bobbing above the demonstrating throngs and media predicting "fortress London" for President Bush's visit, you'd think the U.S. is despised in Britain. You'd be wrong. Much ink has been spilled...

Tax Hike Pressure.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
November 19, 2003... Budget: The federal deficit scares a lot of folks. Yet Congress just keeps handing out money, in many cases spending more than the president asked for. The latest example is the energy bill. Congressional negotiators finished the...

ACLU Has A Curious Notion Of "Fundamental Freedoms'.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(BRAIN TRUST)
November 19, 2003... Byline: DOUG BANDOW Nadine Strossen, president of the American Civil Liberties Union, has written to ask me to become a "card-carrying member" of the ACLU. She explains: "There is no higher calling, nor greater reward, democracy can...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Dow, S&P 500 Log Fourth Loss On Tame Trade.(MAKING MONEY)
November 19, 2003... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Stocks slumped for a fourth straight session Tuesday, but subpar trade cushioned the losses. The Dow industrials and S&P 500 each lost 0.9%, the small-cap S&P 600 0.7%. Leading Russian wireless telecoms pierced...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(GENERAL MARKET & SECTORS)
November 19, 2003... 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...

Chinese Minivan Firm Digests Breakout Gain.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
November 19, 2003... Byline: Craig Shaw Brilliance China Automotive ran up 85% from its June breakout before starting its monthlong base. The small-cap stock has seen average daily volume increase from 21,000 to 69,000 shares the past eight weeks. It's 8%...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Falls In Higher Trade 2nd Straight Day.(B)
November 19, 2003... Byline: JONAH KERI The Nasdaq fell on slightly higher volume for the second straight session Tuesday. The tech-laden index dropped 1.5%, the Nasdaq 100 2.1% as volume inched a tick above its 50-day average. Ceradyne notched its...

VistaCare Setting Up After Failed Breakout.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
November 19, 2003... Byline: Jonah Keri VistaCare tried to break out of an eight-week base on Nov. 7. But the stock closed in the lower half of its trading range that day, then dived below its pivot point and its 50-day moving average over the next two days....

Fraud-Fighting Efforts Pay Off, But At A Price; Web Stores' Dilemma.(A)
November 18, 2003... Byline: PETE BARLAS The outlook for fighting online fraud is good and bad. Retailers and other merchants selling products on the Internet expect to report fewer losses from online fraud by year's end. But they're spending more...

Fund Scandal Isn't Hurting Market So Far; Cash Still Flows Into Funds.(A)
November 18, 2003... Byline: KEN HOOVER The scandal wreaking havoc in the mutual fund industry isn't deterring individual investors from pouring new money into stock funds and isn't hurting the stock market generally, most experts agree. Some fund...

Morgan Stanley Bows In $50 Mil Settlement Of Fund Fee Charges; It Will Stop Soft-Dollar Deals; Alliance delays Q3 filing; Putnam's assets plunge; Bear Stearns fires brokers.(A)
November 18, 2003... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN Regulators' scouring of the mutual fund industry moved in a new direction Monday, as Morgan Stanley agreed to pay $50 million to settle federal charges that it accepted higher fees in return for pushing some funds....

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
November 18, 2003... Morgan Stanley Settles Charges 1The giant brokerage will pay $50 mil to settle charges it accepted fees for pushing certain mutual funds. Morgan Stanley will disclose more ties to other fund groups and no longer accept soft-dollar...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
November 18, 2003... CHEVRONTEXACO got federal OK for its offshore liquefied natural gas terminal . It'll start construction at Port Pelican, La., in '04. ATI TECHNOLOGIES raised its Q1 '04 EPS target to 16-20 cents. Analysts expected 13 cents. The graphics...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
November 18, 2003... SCHOOLS Career Education falls on lawsuit An employee at the for-profit college operator's unit Gibbs College claims she was fired for refusing to falsify student records, The Bergen Record reported. The Gibbs unit contributes about...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
November 18, 2003... Inventory rebuilding picking up Business inventories rose 0.3% in Sept., the Commerce Dept. said. That's the first gain in three months and the fastest pace since March. Auto and parts inventories rose 1.5%. Excluding auto stockpiles,...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
November 18, 2003... Merck will pay GenPath Pharmaceuticals up to $100 mil to identify genes that might allow tumor growth. Merck will develop medicines to control these genes. Microsoft plans to launch a song-downloading service on its MSN Web site in '04,...

NATION/WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
November 18, 2003... It's Gov. Schwarzenegger now The actor-turned politician became California's 38th governor in a ceremony without the typical inaugural pageantry. His job became tougher after an aide pegged the state budget deficit at $25 bil, more than...

Relax, Then Get To Work.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
November 18, 2003... Byline: Robin Grugal 7 Instead of waiting until your next vacation to get needed relaxation, why not take some time out during your work day? Inappropriate, you say? Not when you consider the revitalizing effect it can have on your...

Painter's Canvas Was Limitless; Follow Your Vision: Mondrian's dedication to his art was no abstraction.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
November 18, 2003... Byline: J. BONASIA Piet Mondrian wanted nothing less than to show the harmony of the universe with his work. It was a daunting goal, but he never gave up. Instead, he toiled in poverty for decades until hitting on the perfect...

Keynote Survives Internet Crash By Slimming Down; Shed Dot-Com Clients; Web measurement firm gauges top business sites and tracks traffic spikes.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)(Q & A)
November 18, 2003... Byline: DONNA HOWELL Silicon Valley veteran Umang Gupta takes the pulse of e-business every day. It's his job. About 40 of the top 50 Web sites, and more than half of Fortune 100 firms, use his company's expertise to see how their...

Social Network Sites Are Making Friends With Venture Funds; Spoke Software Gets $12 Mil; Software helps companies leverage personal contacts; "six degrees of separation'.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 18, 2003... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON The old adage "It's not what you know, but whom" is going high tech. Four venture capital firms plan to announce today they invested $12 million in Spoke Software Inc., which runs a Web site that puts...

Sun-Microsoft, AMD-Intel, Windows-Linux -- Yep, It's A Comdex; Rivalries Take Stage.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
November 18, 2003... Byline: Patrick Seitz and Donna Howell Tapping into growing interest in alternatives to Wintel computers, Sun Microsystems Inc. used the Comdex technology trade show in Las Vegas on Monday to unveil plans to offer low-priced desktop and...

CHINDEX INTERNATIONAL INC. Bethesda, Md.; Will Gratitude Add Up To A Rise In Business?(THE NEW AMERICA)
November 18, 2003... Byline: PETER BENESH As one university professor puts it: Chinese gratitude is good for business. A Western company can get a lot of freedom from state control by winning official trust in China. That formula could turn out to be a...

HOVNANIAN ENTERPRISES INC. Red Bank, New Jersey; Builder Uses Buys To Move Into Hot Markets.(THE NEW AMERICA)
November 18, 2003... Byline: MARILYN ALVA Add Phoenix and Tampa to the growing housing empire of Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. Its entry into those two cities -- Tampa earlier this month and Phoenix just weeks before that -- is the latest in a string of...

No Shortcuts.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
November 18, 2003... Iraq: News that the administration might hand over control by next spring should be the genesis of new hope. Instead, it creates some concerns. Iraq belongs to the Iraqis. It should not be a puppet for the U.S. to manipulate or a colony...

Mounting Evidence.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
November 18, 2003... Terrorism: An extraordinary memo by a top defense official reveals what some in the media say doesn't exist: a link between al-Qaida and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Last June, when a United Nations committee on terrorism found no link between...

FACT BOX.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)
November 18, 2003... PUBLIC OPINION 70%: Adults in a Nov. 5-9 ABC News Poll who believe the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was part of a broader plot as opposed to the work of one man. ON THIS DAY In 1969, Joseph P. Kennedy, patriarch of...

China's Economic Awakening Is Cause For Cheer, Not Fear.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(BRAIN TRUST)
November 18, 2003... Byline: W. Michael Cox and Jahyeong Koo China's rise as an economic power evokes fear in many parts of the world today. We've all heard the hue and cry. A nation of 1.3 billion people, most earning a pittance, is flooding the world...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Dow, S&P 500 Lose Ground In Broad Selling.(MAKING MONEY)
November 18, 2003... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Stock indexes tumbled early Monday, but pared losses to close in the upper half of their range. The Dow industrials and S&P 500 each sank 0.6%. The small-cap S&P 600 lost 1%. Broad selling left only a handful of IBD's...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(GENERAL MARKET & SECTORS)
November 18, 2003... 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...

Las Vegas-Based HMO Holds Above Its Pivot.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
November 18, 2003... Byline: Craig Shaw Sierra Health Services broke out of a four-month base last week. The stock pulled back 1.5% Monday as the market sold off, closing within 5% of its pivot point of 24.90. Its up/down volume ratio of 1.6 shows healthy...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Closes Lower But Above Intraday Low.(B)
November 18, 2003... Byline: NANCY GONDO Nasdaq stocks recouped some of their losses Monday as the Nasdaq composite fell 1.1% on slightly higher volume. It had sunk as much as 2% intraday, dragged down by overseas market declines and terrorist-related...

Petco Sets Up Base; Odyssey Forms Handle.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
November 18, 2003... Byline: Nancy Gondo Petco Animal Supplies has been forming a flat base for 10 weeks. The stock tried to break out Nov. 5, then began setting up a new basing pattern. It's now trading 6% off its high. IBD gives the pet supplies...

NYSE Reform Plans Don't Mollify Critics; Vote Set For Tuesday; Many want full split of exchange operations, regulatory oversight.(A)
November 17, 2003... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG No one gripes about the $1 salary retired banker John Reed has accepted as he tries to guide the New York Stock Exchange through its most sweeping changes in nearly 70 years. But just about everyone, from...

U.S. Growth Cools A Little, Reports Find; Industry Up, Retail Sales Off.(A)
November 17, 2003... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE A spate of new data released Friday showed that the U.S. economy cooled somewhat in October from its torrid third-quarter growth pace, but not enough to put its strong rebound in doubt. Industrial output and...

Top Regulators Eye Fund Probe Action As Spitzer Hits SEC; The "Ministry Of Status Quo'?; Schwab reveals it found some improper trading; other groups are drawn in.(A)
November 17, 2003... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN Top Bush aides moved Friday to reassure investors the right steps are being taken to staunch improper mutual fund trading and punish wrongdoers, even as the scandal spread to include discount broker Charles Schwab...

MARKET TOOL BAR.(A)
November 17, 2003... S&P 500 INDEX 1050.35 -8.06 (-0.8%) Back to the bottom of two-week range DOW JONES IND. 9768.68 -69.26 (-0.7%) J&J, Merck, Altria buck broad decline NYSE VOL. (MIL) 1,356 -38 (-2.7%)...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
November 17, 2003... Bush Aides Look Into Fund Scam 1Treasury Secretary John Snow, after top administration officials met, said fund insiders should be held to account. Snow backs SEC chief William Donaldson. But N.Y. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said the...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
November 17, 2003... CORVIS said the SEC is investigating whether the telecom gear maker appropriately disclosed its dealings with Qwest in public statements. Also, Qwest said it won't file its quarterly report on time. TOMMY HILFIGER may cut the number of...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
November 17, 2003... CNET will buy MP3.com for an undisclosed sum from Vivendi, which paid $372 mil for MP3.com in '01. Merrill Lynch cut its '04 GE forecast by a nickel to $1.60 a share, citing higher nonoperating expenses and weaker outlook in industrial...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
November 17, 2003... REGULATION SEC to visit NYSE floor in probe A team of regulators will visit the exchange floor this week to strengthen their understanding of its inner workings. The SEC is investigating exchange floor specialists' trading abuses and...