Investor's Business Daily articles from October 2004

Investor's Business Daily archives from October 2004

Merck Shares Fall 27% As Arthritis Drug Pulled Amid Safety Concerns; Vioxx Was 11% Of Its Sales; '04 net may take 19% hit, and whole class of drugs could face more scrutiny.(A)
October 1, 2004... Byline: AMY REEVES Merck pulled one of its best-selling drugs off the market Thursday and cut its 2004 earnings guidance, sending its stock into a slide. The firm halted worldwide sales of Vioxx, the treatment for arthritis and...

Gov't Programs Can't Accelerate Weak Demand For Nongas Cars; One federal effort has just $10 mil to promote alt fuels for city fleets.(A)
October 1, 2004... Byline: PETER BENESH Seth Seaberg wants the government more involved in his business. As co-owner of EvoLimo, a Los Angeles luxury car service, Seaberg has three vehicles that run on alternative fuel -- compressed natural gas. His...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
October 1, 2004... Merck Yanks Key Arthritis Drug 1Shares slid 27% to 33 after Merck halted Vioxx sales. It sees the move cutting 50-60 cents off '04 EPS; analysts had seen $3.14. Data showed Vioxx raised heart attack and stroke risks. The withdrawal casts a...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
October 1, 2004... RESEARCH IN MOTION earned 45 cents a share ex items in Q2, up 800% from a year ago and 2 cents over views, on demand for its BlackBerry handheld de-vices. It raised its Q3 outlook over views. Shares fell. CONSTELLATION BRANDS earned 71...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
October 1, 2004... INTERNET Red Hat to buy Netscape assets The Linux software provider will acquire some of the products from Netscape's business software line, including a directory server and a certificate management system, with plans to market those...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
October 1, 2004... FINANCE Fannie Mae facing criminal probe Federal investigators are looking into possible accounting fraud at the government-chartered mortgage finance company, according to published reports. The probe follows a report by Fannie Mae's...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
October 1, 2004... RETAIL Family Dollar profit marked down The deep discount store matched Q4 views of 26 cents a share, down 7% from a year ago. Sales rose 9% to $1.32 bil. Other discounters have complained that rising gasoline prices are crimping...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
October 1, 2004... BEVERAGES Pepsi Q3 profit bubbles up 14% The food and beverage giant's shares rose 1% to 48.65 after it reported Q3 earnings of 66 cents a share ex items, 8 cents over the year-ago period and a penny over views. Revenue rose 6% to...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
October 1, 2004... Euro zone's inflation rate eases The region's consumer price index dropped to 2.2% in Sept. from 2.3% in Aug., Eurostat said. Also Thursday, the EU's index consumer confidence in the euro zone improved to -13 in Sept. from -14 in Aug. Its...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
October 1, 2004... American Airlines' cargo division will raise by 20% the fuel surcharge for domestic and most overseas shipments originating in the U.S. AA's passenger division this week rescinded a $5 each-way surcharge after rivals didn't match the hike....

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
October 1, 2004... Patriot Act ruling to be appealed Attorney General John Ashcroft said the Justice Department will appeal judge's ruling that barred secret searches of Internet and telephone records, included in the Patriot Act, as unconstitutional. The...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
October 1, 2004... Rebels try to enter Haitian city About 20 sneaked into Gonaives despite security efforts of U.N. peacekeepers, ratcheting up more tension in the city of a quarter-million devastated by floods. Gonaives is running short of food two weeks...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
October 1, 2004... 40% of Linux PCs do Windows Two-fifths of Linux-installed PCs will be scrubbed clean to use a pirated version of Windows, a study from Gartner shows. It also found that 11% of all PCs shipped in emerging markets will have Linux on them....

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
October 1, 2004... ** A new vaccine can reduce the amount of methane gas released when a sheep burps by 8%, New Scientist reports. Researchers estimate methane from farm animals accounts for 20% of global methane emissions, contributing to global warming. While...

His Ready-To-Wear Clothes Changed An Industry; Give Them What They Want: Henry Brooks saw clients had no time for custom clothing, so he offered them convenience.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(BEST OF LEADERS & SUCCESS)
October 1, 2004... Byline: DOUG TSURUOKA It was 1818, and trans-Atlantic passenger traffic between New York City and England was starting to boom. What would all the new travelers need?asked New York resident Henry Sands Brooks. The answer: clothes. ...

BE PERSISTENT AND WORK HARD Bitter To Better Medicine.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
October 1, 2004... Byline: Cord Cooper 5 Kenny Kramm turned the greatest heartbreak of his life into a vehicle to help others. That vehicle is a business that's given hope to thousands of people nationwide. Yet Kramm's own tragedy is something he'll never...

Explorer Sir Walter Raleigh; Be Persistent: He used charm, military prowess and hard work to gain success.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
October 1, 2004... Byline: CURT SCHLEIER Sir Walter Raleigh used brains as well as brawn when he went to war. In 1581, Raleigh was in Ireland fighting for England. He was given 90 men and assigned to capture a suspected traitor named Lord Roche and...

And Some Folks Thought We Were Simply Entering "October'; Cyber Security Month.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
October 1, 2004... Byline: DONNA HOWELL There's a seasonal safety trend here. It's after a summer of discontent. October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. It, naturally enough, follows National Preparedness Month, which used to be called...

Satellite TV Gaining Vs. Cable In Pay TV, But Bundling Is Issue; One-Provider Communications; Most profitable customers want broadband, phone, along with video services.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
October 1, 2004... Byline: BRIAN DEAGON Satellite TV is besting cable in customer satisfaction, value and loyalty, which should let it continue pulling customers away from its cable rivals, says a report released at this week's Digital Hollywood trade show....

Online Poker's Flush With Success As More Folks Deal Themselves In; Discarding Legal Issues; Your telltale poker face won't cost you a penny, and a seat's always open.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
October 1, 2004... Byline: ANDREA ORR For 40 years, Orrin Gowen turned to his weekly poker games for male bonding, relaxation and low-stakes gambling. Recently, technology and retirement have changed that hallowed routine. Now when Gowen is off on an...

SMITH INTERNATIONAL INC. Houston, Texas; It Gets A Bit Of A Lift From Hot Oil Market.(THE NEW AMERICA)
October 1, 2004... Byline: DAVID ISAAC An average diamond drill bit costs $40,000. Douglas Rock, chief executive of Smith International, calls it a Lexus in a box. The bulk of his firm's business comes from supplying drilling fluids and drill bits for...

POTLATCH CORP. Spokane, Washington; Timber Firm Wonders If It's The REIT Move.(THE NEW AMERICA)
October 1, 2004... Byline: PETER BENESH Not many 100-year-old companies face an identity crisis. Potlatch does. For the lumber company, which was founded in Idaho in 1903, it's a taxing issue. Or more to the point, it's an issue of taxes. ...

Many Top Funds' Fees Above Average; They Pull Extra Weight; Focusing on low costs could omit solid funds from your selection list.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(THE BASICS)
October 1, 2004... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN Numbers don't lie. But which ones should you look at first when choosing a fund? Some advisers point to expense ratios. Those are the fees managers charge to run a fund. They're expressed as a percentage of...

Nukes And Mullahs.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
October 1, 2004... Iran: We see two peaceful solutions to Tehran's nuclear threat. One is to get Europe behind tough sanctions. The other is democratic change. Which would be easier? Well, neither is a snap. But if we had to stake the future on reluctant...

Arnold's Answer.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
October 1, 2004... Immigration: California's governor could teach his party -- and president -- a thing or two about upholding the law and supporting those who play by the rules. In the view of conventional Republican Party wisdom, Arnold Schwarzenegger...

LETTERS.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(Letter to the Editor)
October 1, 2004... Kerry's Skin Tone Irrelevant Thanks for that comprehensive and detailed analysis of Sen. John Kerry's tan in "The Bronzed Star" (Editorial, Thursday). The author displayed wisdom and a critical eye by deciding to leave out any objective...

Stock Checkup Helps Separate Leaders From Laggards.(MAKING MONEY)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
October 1, 2004... Byline: CRAIG SHAW It's easy to feel overwhelmed as a new investor. Staring at charts and dozens of SEC filings, how can you tell a stock apart from the thousands of others in the market? IBD Stock Checkup offers an easy solution....

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Merck Drags Dow, S&P 500 Down For Loss.(MAKING MONEY)
October 1, 2004... Byline: JONAH KERI NYSE stocks edged lower Thursday, though a collapse by drug making giant Merck caused the decline. The Dow fell 0.6%, the S&P 500 less than 0.1%. The small-cap S&P 600 ticked up 0.1%. *Merck plummeted 12.07, or 27%,...

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

Oil, Materials Stocks Continue Their Climb.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Byline: Jonah Keri Callon Petroleum broke out of a four-month base in late April. The firm continued to ride the wave of rising oil prices, surging to a new high in July. It's since formed a 12-week base and is trading just above its...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Edges Up 0.2%, But Posts Poor Quarter.(B)
October 1, 2004... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Techs eked out gains Thursday even as drug maker Merck's plunge dragged on blue chips. The Nasdaq rose 0.2% in heavier trade. For the month, the composite gained 3.2%. But it sank 7.4% for the quarter, its worst decline...

IPayment Rounds Out 4-Month Base Pattern.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
October 1, 2004... Byline: Craig Shaw IPayment is edging up the right side of its four-month base after its May breakout hit a wall. The stock posted gains five of the last six weeks, but only one up week came on above-average turnover. You'd like to see...

PeopleSoft's Board Gives CEO The Hook Amid Buyout Fight; Founder Takes Back Reins; Loss of confidence cited; stock rises 15% on view a deal is more likely now.(A)
October 4, 2004... Byline: J. BONASIA PeopleSoft's struggle to stave off a hostile takeover by Oracle took a startling turn Friday morning when its board fired Chief Executive Craig Conway. The company's board said it would replace Conway with Dave...

MARKET TOOL BAR.(A)
October 4, 2004... S&P 500 INDEX 1131.50 +16.92 (+1.5%) Best week in last six as breakouts mount DOW JONES IND. 10,192.65 +112.38 (+1.1%) GM up in brisk trade on 20% boost in sales NYSE VOL .(MIL) 1,582 ...

Bush Leading In Electoral Votes, With A Narrow Swing-State Edge; But Kerry isn't far off, and his debate victory may help close the gap.(A)
October 4, 2004... Byline: SEAN HIGGINS Overnight polls say John Kerry won Thursday's presidential debate. Gallup found he won 53%-37%. But the question remains if Kerry won over people where it counts: the swing states. Most national polls give...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
October 4, 2004... Big Rally Caps Stocks' Up Week 1 Chips led the Nasdaq to a 2.4% gain, 3.3% for the week, reaching its best level since July 9, on higher trade. The small-cap S&P 600 rose 2%, 3.3% for the week, to a new high. The Dow added 1.1%, the S&P...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
October 4, 2004... XM SATELLITE missed subscription estimates, causing shares to fall. The satellite radio operator added 415,000 new subscribers in Q3, up 75% to reach 2.5 mil in total. But analysts expected 435,000 new customers. MICREL cut its Q3 revenue...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
October 4, 2004... Saks will close 8 of its luxury Saks Fifth Avenue stores and 3 of its lower-price Off 5th stores, resulting in 700 job cuts. It's focusing on better-performing stores. Shares rose 1.5% to 12.26. Oxford Industries earned 36 cents a share in...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
October 4, 2004... MEDICAL Merck rebounds from Vioxx loss A day after plunging 27%, Merck regained some lost ground, rising 1% to 33.31. The drug maker was pummeled after it pulled its popular Vioxx arthritis drug over health concerns. Pfizer, which is...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
October 4, 2004... DEFENSE Boeing negotiator gets 9 months Darleen Druyun, the ex-No. 2 weapons buyer for the Air Force, was sentenced to 9 months in prison for negotiating a $250,000 job with Boeing while overseeing the jet maker's contracts with the...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
October 4, 2004... TECHNOLOGY Microsoft fears platform breakup The tech giant told an EU judge it'll suffer serious harm if forced to provide a version of Windows without Media Player, as ordered by EU anti-trust regulators. While Microsoft has said it...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
October 4, 2004... G-7 finance ministers discuss oil The finance ministers and central bankers, meeting in Washington, D.C., were expected to discuss the causes and impact of swelling oil prices. Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown said high...

TRENDS/INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
October 4, 2004... U.S. expands healthy lunches The FDA's Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, which provides federal funding for schools to buy fresh produce for their lunches, is bumping up funding 50% to $9 mil and increasing the number of participating...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
October 4, 2004... Irked Net security chief resigns The Homeland Security Dept.'s cybersecurity chief abruptly resigned after one year in the job. Industry colleagues told AP that Amit Yoran, a former Symantec executive, was frustrated over a lack of...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
October 4, 2004... Blast kills 22 in Pakistan mosque A suicide attacker detonated a huge bomb during Friday prayers in Sialkot, killing 19 and wounding dozens 145 miles southeast of Islamabad. Hundreds of angry Shiites went on a rampage after the attack, and...

Analyze Rivals' Mistakes.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Cord Cooper 6 To millions of Americans, he was a laugh-provoking cheapskate, a painfully "bad" violinist, the eternal 39-year-old -- all parts of a character he honed for decades. Yet people in show business knew Jack Benny as...

Netscape's Marc Andreessen; Stay Focused: If others don't see his vision, he works to convince them.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
October 4, 2004... Byline: DAVID ISAAC As an undergraduate student, Marc Andreessen found part-time work paying $6.85 an hour. Not exactly a dream job. It was at the University of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications and sparked...

As Prelude To Internet Calling, SBC Beefs Up Message Options; Unifying Different Messages; SBC service lets consumers get voice mail, e-mail, faxes on phone or via computer.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
October 4, 2004... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE SBC Communications on Monday plans to roll out a new messaging service that would let consumers check their wireless voice mail on a computer or access e-mail via a touch-tone landline phone. The Unified...

Middlemen Emerge For Sellers On EBay; Aim To Smooth Process; AuctionDrop and iSoldIt among cadre of startups providing drop-off stores.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
October 4, 2004... Byline: LISA SCHMEISER Vice President Dick Cheney recently credited Internet auction king eBay with boosting the economy. "400,000 people make some money trading on eBay," he said. There's money to be made off those eBay sellers,...

IPOs Help To Endorse On-Demand Software; Trend Is Taking Hold; The pioneers in this new way to provide software are now publicly traded.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
October 4, 2004... Byline: J. BONASIA Demand is growing fast for on-demand systems -- software that's sold as a service rather than a product. With an on-demand delivery model, software runs remotely over the Internet instead of being loaded directly...

NIKE INC. Beaverton, Oregon; Supplier Of Athletic Gear Hits The Fast Track With New Products.(THE NEW AMERICA)
October 4, 2004... Byline: STEVE WATKINS This was the Summer of Speed for Nike Inc. You couldn't watch the Olympics, Tour de France, tennis' U.S. Open or most any other major sporting event without seeing Nike's commercials on the tube or its logo...

EXECUTIVE BRIEFING.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)
October 4, 2004... BUSINESS ETHICS Firm's Reputation Important To Execs Corporate reputation is a major factor for job seekers at the top of the pay scale, says a survey conducted by executive job search service TheLadders.com. 83% of the survey's...

Meetings As Strategic Activity?; Firms often see no gain from the time they put into holding meetings.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)
October 4, 2004... Byline: KIRK SHINKLE A committee, Milton Berle once said, is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours. Let's face it: There are plenty of folks who'd rather be anywhere than a meeting. It's a safe bet that nearly everyone has...

Harnish Follows Old-Fashioned Path.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)(REAL SOLUTIONS)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Morey Stettner Thousands of prospectors poured into Titusville, Pa., after the first oil well was struck in 1859. But John D. Rockefeller watched and waited. "The people who descended overnight on Titusville were the first...

Making Decisions Under Pressure.(MANAGING FOR SUCCESS)(REAL SOLUTIONS)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Morey Stettner Making fast decisions under duress takes skill. But speed isn't everything. If you assume you can't spare a few minutes to sort through a situation and assess it thoughtfully, you may fall into the trap of...

MED BRIEFS.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)
October 4, 2004... Merck Steady -- After The Fall The drug making giant's stock stabilized somewhat early Friday, a day after shares plummeted 28% when Merck pulled its blockbuster arthritis drug, Vioxx, from the global market because new data from a...

There's A New Wrinkle In The Market For Skin Products; Medicis Makes A Move; The firm's Restylane gel stacks up well against collagens, academic says.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)(Q & A)
October 4, 2004... Byline: AMY REEVES As Americans get older and cosmetic surgery goes mainstream, the battle against wrinkles is heating up. Allergan's Botox is the most famous anti-wrinkle treatment, but older ones are still in use. Collagen, the...

At-Risk Americans Can Take Heart In Defibrillator Approval; But Analysts Downplay Impact; At-home devices, available without a prescription, are still too pricey for most folks.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)
October 4, 2004... Byline: GLORIA LAU Lee Curtes, a heating and air-conditioning disributor, was about to ski down Blue Sky Basin in Vail, Colo., four years ago when his heart muscle quivered so fast he blacked out. "It was intense pain, like a bear was...

Drug Maker Takes Lean Approach; First Horizon; Alpharetta, Ga. horizonpharm.com.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)(UNDER THE MICROSCOPE)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Kirk Shinkle A little more than a year ago, First Horizon Pharmaceutical's stock was in the gutter after its line of drugs got beaten out by generic competition. But a new management team and a new line of drugs have revived the...

Market-Leading Medical Stocks.(HEALTH & MEDICINE)
October 4, 2004... 1Amedisys IncOutpnt/Home CareAMED30.77-8.349897A1914468.277 The nursing-home services company raised almost $68 million last week with a follow-on offering of 2.46 million shares. 2Arrhythmia Research...

Winning Steps As Interest Rates Rise; Low-Rate Era Is Ending; Defend yourself against higher consumer rates; avoid long-term bonds.(FUNDS & PERSONAL FINANCE)
October 4, 2004... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF The Federal Reserve Board has raised its key interest rate to 1.75%. The latest hike was Sept. 21, and that was the third increase in as many months. The rate had been as low as 1% until June 30, when the Fed...

Clarifying Kerry.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
October 4, 2004... Politics: As the body language fades from memory, the words remain. And the words of the first debate define a sharp contrast -- between a president who embraces American power and a challenger who distrusts it. So who won? We have our...

Tilting At Windmills.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
October 4, 2004... Energy: Sen. John Kerry has been accused of taking positions based on which way the wind blows. Nowhere is his vacillating any clearer than his position on generating power from wind. At a campaign appearance in Vinton, Iowa, last January,...

Russia's "Da' To Kyoto Hurts U.S.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
October 4, 2004... Environment: Vladimir Putin mustn't think much of Russia's economic future -- and even less of its economic ties to the U.S. Why else would he sign off on Kyoto? By agreeing to the Kyoto treaty to cut output of global warming gases, Putin...

SOS From OBL.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
October 4, 2004... Terrorism: A new tape allegedly released by al-Qaida predictably calls for more attacks on U.S. and British interests. It also vindicates the Bush war on terror. The speaker, supposedly Ayman al-Zawahri, the Egyptian-born doctor and...

Forget Kerry: Bush's Nemesis Is Insurgency.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(ON THE LEFT)
October 4, 2004... Byline: DAVID S. BRODER President Bush and Sen. John Kerry faced very different challenges when they met Thursday night for their first debate, but only Kerry seemed to recognize exactly what he needed to do. The Democratic nominee's...

Paradox 2004: Kerry Running As Nixon 1968.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(ON THE RIGHT)
October 4, 2004... Byline: CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER It was a mistake for Sen. John Kerry to spend four days at the Democratic convention establishing his connection to Vietnam. But it was oddly appropriate. More than any other politician of our time --...

LETTERS.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(Letter to the Editor)
October 4, 2004... Missed A Detail In "Kerry's Wrong" (Letters, Friday), the writer brings up an interesting argument. However, he is incorrect in his premise. President Bush did indeed volunteer for Vietnam, which was noted in "Texas Volunteer" (Editorial,...

Raise The Bar For Activist Groups That Practice "Pathological Science'.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(PERSPECTIVE)
October 4, 2004... Byline: HENRY I. MILLER In 1897, the Indiana House of Representatives unanimously passed a measure that redefined -- inaccurately -- the calculation of the value of pi, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Little did...

Who's Who In Western and Southwestern Banks Stocks ranked by a combined EPS and Relative Strength.(INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT)
October 4, 2004... 1Cathay GeneralCATY878837.191865.4247.81910.369946.2 Los Angeles. Holding company for Cathay Bank operating through 39 branches. 2Capital Corp WestCCOW887743248.974.91223.6121525.5 Merced, Calif. Holding company for County Bank....

West's Growth Fueling Surge For Area Banks; Deposit growth, interest rates have helped, as has a focus on community.(INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT)(WESTERN/SOUTHWESTERN REGIONAL BANKS)
October 4, 2004... Byline: MARILYN MUCH Banks in the West and the Southwest are enjoying a good run. They've fared well amid a favorable milieu for banking. Low interest rates have reduced their costs of funds while bolstering their commercial real...

By Sharpening Focus, Vineyard Bears Fruit; Bank reformed in 2000, targeting product lines that were poised to rise.(INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT)(Q & A)
October 4, 2004... Byline: MARILYN MUCH When Norman Morales took the helm of Vineyard National Bancorp in October 2000, the bank was barely eking out a profit. Vineyard is a community bank operating in the so-called Inland Empire region of Southern...

Leading Stocks Offer Multiple Entry Points.(THE IBD 100)(INSIDE THE IBD 100)
October 4, 2004... Byline: NANCY GONDO The market found a bottom in mid-August to start an uptrend and ended Friday on a bullish note. What's not to like? Well, if you were reluctant to buy back into the market, you may have missed some of this rally's...

THE IBD 100.(THE IBD 100)
October 4, 2004... 1Ultra PetroleumUPL49.90-2999998+87+130+108+96355870 Driller reports initial oil sales from newly developed fields in Bohai Bay, China. 2TravelzooTZOO54.25-29999899+189+167+167+687220910 Internet travel firm pulls back a steep 32%...

Subprime Loan Market Insulates Mortgage Lender From Rate Hikes.(THE IBD 100)
October 4, 2004... Byline: NANCY GONDO Mortgage lenders tend to fixate on what happens with long-term interest rates, but it's not a primary focus for Accredited Home Lenders. "Long-term rates don't directly impact our cost of money," said Ray McKewon,...

IBD'S WEEK IN REVIEW.(THE IBD 100)
October 4, 2004... Stock Market Rally Regains Strength 1The Nasdaq surged 2.4% on Friday, capping a solid week in which stocks marched higher in rising volume. Chips helped drive broad gains, as the Philadelphia semiconductor index rallied 5.1% for the week....

THE IBD 100.(THE IBD 100)
October 4, 2004... 51Building Matrls HldgBMHC29.19+2989197+73+119+44+697285 Building materials and services provider latest firm to raise dividend: 6 cents to 8 cents. 52Steel DynamicsSTLD39.02-1999197+578+999+900+14066213 Steel maker says it expects...

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

Scan New Highs List Each Day To Track The Strongest Sectors.(MAKING MONEY)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
October 4, 2004... Byline: NANCY GONDO In a healthy market, how do you quickly spot high-quality stocks breaking out? The strongest industry sectors give clues. Check IBD's new highs list each day (today on page B8). Stocks breaking out of bases soon hit...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Broad Rally Propels Dow, S&P To Strong Gains.(MAKING MONEY)
October 4, 2004... Byline: JONAH KERI NYSE stocks joined a broad rally Friday, notching strong gains. The Dow gained 1.1%, the S&P 500 1.5%, the small-cap S&P 600 2%. NYSE volume finished lower than Thursday's level, thanks largely to much lower volume...

Brush Engineered Sets Up After Run-Up.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Jonah Keri Brush Engineered Materials has formed a base dating back to April after hitting a high of 22. The stock has shown bullish action the last two weeks, pulling back in light trade in what may be a handle. It's 5% off its...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Hits 11-Wk. High As Breakouts Abound.(B)
October 4, 2004... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Software maker PeopleSoft and rallying chip stocks Friday helped lift techs to their highest level in over two months. The Nasdaq gained 2.4% in heavier trade, the Nasdaq 100 2.8%. For the week, the composite surged...

Open Solutions Pauses Near Peak Of Pattern.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
October 4, 2004... Byline: Craig Shaw Open Solutions may be adding a handle to its seven-month base. The stock drifted downward the past two weeks on subpar trade, sinking no more than 7% from its 52-week high. It rose 53% from its November IPO before...

IBD'S 20 RULES FOR INVESTMENT SUCCESS.(THE SMART INVESTOR)
October 4, 2004... 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...