Investor's Business Daily articles from September 2004

Investor's Business Daily archives from September 2004

Getting A Handle On BlackBerry; FIRST PERSON; Navigating through the small screen, keyboard and software takes practice for clear sailing.(SERIES: INVESTMENT TOOLS)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
September 30, 2004... Byline: KEN HOOVER It was noon on Aug. 20. The sun had broken through the morning clouds, and it was shaping up to be another glorious Southern California summer day. I finished my pasta salad at a picnic table in Marina del Rey, not...

A New Focus On Numbers; Trying to decipher all those reports? Get ready for this combination: XBRL; TECHNOLOGY.(SERIES: INVESTMENT TOOLS)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
September 30, 2004... Byline: PATRICK SEITZ Investors have more tools than ever at their disposal -- from Web sites for research to mobile devices for stock alerts and wireless trading. Now comes technology that's poised to change how firms file their...

Big Board Looking For Big Switch In Electronic Trading; THE NYSE; Exchange directs more investment in software to make operation click.(SERIES: INVESTMENT TOOLS)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
September 30, 2004... Byline: DOUG TSURUOKA Talk about losing your job to a machine. For 200 years, New York Stock Exchange specialist traders have helped big investors find the best price for a stock. Now these floor brokers are up against Wall...

Staying Near The Action Even While Far Away; MANAGERS; There's no escaping the information age, thanks to wireless technology.(SERIES: INVESTMENT TOOLS)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
September 30, 2004... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN Bev Hendry used to walk through European hotels with two suitcases. One case would carry his clothes. The other was full of all the cables and connection devices that Hendry needed to connect to the Internet no...

Your Own Trading Place May Yield Comfy Results; AT HOME; Screens, sites, mobility are keys to excelling in the quick-paced market.(SERIES: INVESTMENT TOOLS)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
September 30, 2004... Byline: LISA SCHMEISER Setting up a home trading station demands space and hardware. Space isn't the final frontier. It's the first requirement. "If you want to be serious about making money, you need to have a separate office...

The Connection To Your Money Hits Fast Lane; FUNDS AND ETFS; Drive toward the future includes cars featuring voice-activated quotes.(SERIES: INVESTMENT TOOLS)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
September 30, 2004... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF When Dick Tracy started to wear his two-way wrist radio in 1946, kids knew it was a science-fiction fantasy. These days, shareholders in mutual funds and ETFs have high-tech gizmos, services and software so...

New Scams Zero In On Financial Institutions.(SERIES: INVESTMENT TOOLS)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
September 30, 2004... Byline: DONNA HOWELL If you use e-mail, chances are a phishing attack has hit your in box. You might not have taken the bait. But beware new scams. In phishing, an e-mail pretends to come from your bank or another well-known company....

The Net's Up To Catch Phishing; SECURITY; Hackers having tougher time worming their way through firm firewalls.(SERIES: INVESTMENT TOOLS)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
September 30, 2004... Byline: DONNA HOWELL Stock choice aside, online trading has proved fairly safe for most people, says Larry Tabb, a financial markets researcher. But, he says, watch out for phishing scams that can target investors. To stay safe,...

Trolling For The Best, Quickest Information; SITES, SOFTWARE; You don't have to be on Wall St. to steer toward all the latest data traffic.(SERIES: INVESTMENT TOOLS)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
September 30, 2004... Byline: KEN SPENCER BROWN Not so long ago, the only way to get quick, complete stock data was to get a job on Wall Street. Thanks to cheaper personal computers and the Internet, even the smallest investor now has access to potent tools....

Rise Of BlackBerry's RIM Shows Tools' Potential; STOCKS; Yahoo and Qualcomm also have looked good in otherwise drab sector.(SERIES: INVESTMENT TOOLS)(IBD SPECIAL REPORT)
September 30, 2004... Byline: CRAIG SHAW While many tech stocks have struggled in this year's choppy market, a couple of investment tool companies have stood out. Handheld gadget maker Research In Motion rocketed fivefold in 2003. Unlike some of its...

A Bush Unaccustomed To Role Of The Favorite Takes On Kerry Tonight; Gaffes Often Deciding Factor; President has folksy style, but Democrat has history of winning mano a mano.(A)
September 30, 2004... Byline: BRIAN MITCHELL John Kerry's no stiff in one-on-one talks, but President Bush is still the favorite in Thursday night's first of three presidential debates, political watchers say. Bush is ahead or at least even in the polls....

Who's Leading Presidential Vote? This Time, Polls Offer Little Help; Big swings, differences point out importance of polling methodology.(A)
September 30, 2004... Byline: IBD STAFF The race is dead even. No, it's Bush in a cakewalk. Americans have been bombarded and bewildered by a blizzard of reputable polls showing very different results. What's going on? IBD/TIPP's latest poll shows...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
September 30, 2004... Oil Falls On Stockpiles, Nigeria 1Nov. crude fell as much as $1.50 before closing down 39 cents to $49.51 a barrel on a surprise buildup in U.S. oil inventories and a Nigerian cease-fire. The Energy Information Agency said U.S. stockpiles...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
September 30, 2004... IBM will make $300 mil in pension benefits available to plaintiffs in a huge employee pension suit. It'll take a $320 mil Q3 charge for the settlement. IBM will keep appealing other claims. Shares rose. TALBOTS warned weak Sept. sales had...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
September 30, 2004... MEDICAL Glaxo downplayed safety issues The drug maker, which came under fire for not releasing data about suicides linked to the use of its anti-depressant Paxil by children, had issued a memo to its sales force urging it not to...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
September 30, 2004... INTERNET Cendant confirms Orbitz buyout The owner of Days Inn and Century 21 real estate will pay $1.25 bil for online travel company Orbitz, making its target a tougher rival to other independent travel sites and bolstering...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
September 30, 2004... RETAIL Storms swamp Wendy's sales The fast-food chain's Sept. sales at company-owned stores fell 1.4% from a year ago, and franchised store sales fell 0.9%-1.4%. Store closings from Hurricanes Frances, Ivan and Jeanne hit sales hard...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
September 30, 2004... TECHNOLOGY Chip gear firm warns on orders The Netherlands' ASML said some customers are delaying orders until '05, which could impact margins. The maker of lithography systems is the latest firm to signal a slowdown in the...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
September 30, 2004... Fed expects modest hit from oil Echoing other Fed officials, Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig said high oil prices will have a "relatively modest" effect on U.S. growth, as long as prices don't rise much further. The IMF said oil...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
September 30, 2004... Hartmarx made 14 cents a share, a 40% rise over the year-ago profit and a penny over views, on a 2.7% bump in revenue to $155.8 mil. Shares rose 3.5% to 7.47. AT&T is offering its VoIP phone service CallVantage at Circuit City stores in...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
September 30, 2004... Stewart to serve time in W.Va. The domestic guru had asked that she be allowed to serve her five-month sentence near her Conn. home. The federal Bureau of Prisons balked. Instead she'll report to a min. security women's jail in Alderson,...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
September 30, 2004... Executions set in Cole attack A Yemeni judge sentenced 2 men to death and 4 others to prison for 5-10 years for the al-Qaida 2000 suicide bombing of the U.S. destroyer. The attack killed 17 sailors. Saudi-born Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
September 30, 2004... Saudi edict bans camera phones Saudi Arabia's No. 1 religious authority, Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al al-Sheik, banned the use of mobile phones with built-in cameras, claiming they spread obscenity. The ruling followed a failed ban...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
September 30, 2004... ** Fish oil may help reduce a woman's chances of developing breast cancer, but only if she's carrying the "low activity" versions of genes linked to breast cancer, a study published in Carcinogenesis found. ** A genetic mutation linked...

Learn To Build Rapport.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
September 30, 2004... Byline: Adelia Cellini Linecker 4 Let's face it -- managers tend to hire folks who are like themselves. But what if you're not a carbon copy of the person interviewing you for a job? You don't need to be an exact replica of your...

Writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn; Stay Focused: He helped topple Soviet tyranny, and educated the West.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
September 30, 2004... Byline: CHRISTINA WISE Alexander Solzhenitsyn's life was brutal from the day he was born in 1918. The Russian Revolution raged around him. His father, who'd fought for the czar's army in World War I, had died six months earlier. ...

Nextel Expects Lift from Boost Mobile's Prepaid Service; Adding Seven Markets; Its focus on youth makes growing wireless service a rival for Virgin Mobile.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
September 30, 2004... Byline: REINHARDT KRAUSE Wireless firm Nextel Communications' push into the consumer, pay-as-you-go market has put it on a collision course with fast-growing Virgin Mobile USA. Nextel's consumer service, called Boost Mobile, focuses...

Deep-Pocketed Cendant Seeks Liftoff In Online Travel Business; Question Of Using Synergies; Orbitz makes the company a bigger rival for Expedia/ IAC and Travelocity/Sabre.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
September 30, 2004... Byline: DOUG TSURUOKA Question: What do you do if you're big in the travel business but can't seem to achieve liftoff in online sales? Answer: Put yourself in Orbitz. That's what Cendant did Wednesday in a move that could jostle...

Intel's Retooled Centrino Gets Big Advertising Blitz; Getting Word Out About Wi-Fi; Intel had used others firms' chips in Centrino package; now it's an all-Intel product.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
September 30, 2004... Byline: JAMES DETAR Intel kicks off one of its biggest ad campaigns ever this week, with spots for its Centrino notebook chips appearing on TV and the Web, as well as in print. The company launched the ad blitz with a spot on "Monday...

New Web Ads Do Pay Per Click One Better; Pay Per Call Era Nears; Advertisers would only have to pay when people phone ad's 800 number.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
September 30, 2004... Byline: DOUG TSURUOKA Some developers of Internet ads say a phone call's better than a click, and advertisers likely will soon make the final call on that theory. The ad developers are pushing a new type of paid search ad dubbed...

Stock Fund Inflow Shrinks To $1.09 Bil; U.S. Funds See Outflow; Investors wrestled tough market during August; stronger September seen.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(INVESTMENT TRENDS)
September 30, 2004... Byline: MURRAY COLEMAN Amid a shaky market, investors put just $1.09 billion into stock funds in August. The total reflects $1.21 billion that shareholders pulled from stock funds investing in just the U.S. The overall inflow was the...

DRS TECHNOLOGIES INC. Parsippany, N.J.; Military Gear Supplier Goes On The Offensive.(THE NEW AMERICA)
September 30, 2004... Byline: DAVID ISAAC "War is too important to be left to the generals," said Georges Clemenceau, premier of France. Maybe that's why the Defense Department contracts out to private-sector firms such as DRS Technologies. A midtier...

GILEAD SCIENCES INC. Foster City, California; Drug Maker's Tight Focus Gives It An Edge.(THE NEW AMERICA)
September 30, 2004... Byline: PETER BENESH Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Analysts seem to be saying that about Gilead Sciences. For two straight quarters, the company has run roughshod over consensus Wall Street views. Was...

Bellows For The Draft.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
September 30, 2004... Campaign '04: One of history's most unsavory characters was right when he said the masses "will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one." The big lie is so implausible it must be true. We're not saying the media have...

The Bronzed Star.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
September 30, 2004... Kerry: As autumn leaves begin to change color, so apparently do presidential candidates preparing for a nationally televised debate in front of 70 million people. Not since Al Gore showed up looking like he was auditioning for a wax...

Big Media Have Little Time For Puppets And Optimism.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(VIEWPONT)
September 30, 2004... Byline: L. BRENT BOZELL III Iraq is shaping up to be the crucial election issue, so when Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi came to Washington last week to thank America for liberating Iraq, the hardened liberal press corps reacted...

How To Gain Insight Into Why A Top Company Thrives.(MAKING MONEY)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
September 30, 2004... Byline: DAVID SAITO-CHUNG It's a cliche, but its wisdom rings true in the stock market: Change is the only constant. Industries go through highs and lows. Young, new companies with innovative products flip the old stalwarts on their...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Techs' Rally Spills Over To NYSE Stocks.(MAKING MONEY)
September 30, 2004... Byline: JONAH KERI NYSE stocks rallied in higher volume Wednesday for a second straight session, providing a jolt of accumulation by big-money investors. The Dow gained 0.6%, the S&P 500 0.4%, the small-cap S&P 600 1.2%. Breadth was...

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

Plantronics, Mobile Riding Strong Profits.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
September 30, 2004... Byline: Jonah Keri Plantronics has formed a consolidation dating back to mid-February. The stock has shown messy action at times, though it's calmed in recent weeks. Ideally, though, you'll want to see volume pick up as Plantronics...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Stocks Gain On Heavier Trade For Second Day.(B)
September 30, 2004... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Gains in Internet and software stocks lifted the Nasdaq by 1.3% Wednesday as oil prices eased. The large-cap Nasdaq 100 added 1.5%. Volume rose from Tuesday's levels. Jupitermedia cruised 1.54, or 9.7%, to a near...

Ohio Casualty Sees Spike In Upside Trade.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
September 30, 2004... Byline: Craig Shaw Ohio Casualty has traded sideways the past four weeks near the top of its six-month base. The stock posted five up weeks on above-average turnover while building the right side of its pattern. Its Relative Strength...

IBD'S 20 RULES FOR INVESTMENT SUCCESS.(THE SMART INVESTOR)
September 30, 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...

"My Stock Lists' Must Be Kept Fresh And Tidy.(THE SMART INVESTOR)(INVESTORS.COM CORNER)
September 30, 2004... Byline: KEN SHREVE Successful investors share many traits. They protect their capital by keeping losses small, they learn from past mistakes and they're able to keep their emotions at bay when buying and selling stocks. They also...

Oil Tops $50 A Barrel As Consumer Job Fears Sink Confidence Index; Nov. Crude Ends At $49.90; Americans eye soft hiring, but experts see fuel costs as a real risk to spending.(A)
September 29, 2004... Byline: JED GRAHAM A tougher job climate dampened consumer confidence this month, but surging oil prices, which on Tuesday topped $50 for the first time, pose the most immediate threat to spending. The Conference Board said Tuesday...

Bush And Kerry Are Deadlocked Again Heading Into First Debate On Thursday.(A)(IBD/TIPP POLL)
September 29, 2004... Byline: IBD STAFF The race for the White House once again appears to be a dead heat, with Americans evenly split between those who would re-elect President Bush and those who want Sen. John Kerry. The latest IBD/TIPP poll, conducted...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
September 29, 2004... Oil Prices Break $50 On Nigeria 1Nov. crude surged as high as $50.47 before settling up 26 cents to $49.90 a barrel, a 3rd straight record close. Oil prices rose on Nigerian rebels' call for all-out war on Friday and a warning to oil...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
September 29, 2004... MCDONALD'S CEO Charlie Bell returned to the hospital to clear up a blockage. Bell, 43, has received chemo and undergone surgery twice for colorectal cancer. Shares fell. GIBRALTAR STEEL expects to make 76-79 cents a share in Q3 vs. 67...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
September 29, 2004... FINANCE Fannie Mae may restate results The mortgage finance firm said it has discussed restating its earnings with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight following the discovery of accounting problems. While Fannie Mae...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
September 29, 2004... ENERGY Valero may boost refinery output The refinery operator is considering expanding the processing capacity of its Aruba refinery to as much as 800,000 barrels a day vs. 225,000 at present. A day earlier, it upped its Q3 forecast,...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
September 29, 2004... MEDICAL OxiGene buoyed by study results The biotech firm's shares rose 24.5% to 6.78 after it said pre-clinical studies showed that one of its compounds showed significant anti-tumor activity when used in combination with radiation...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
September 29, 2004... BEVERAGES Pepsi Bottling Group Q3 pops up The No. 1 bottler of Pepsi soft drinks made 71 cents a share ex items, a 6% rise over the year-ago profit and a penny over views. Revenue rose 4.3% to $2.93 bil. By contrast, rival Coca-Cola...

THE ECONOMY.(TO THE POINT)
September 29, 2004... Retail sales were mixed last week The Johnson Redbook index of sales at large retailers rose 2.9% in the week ended Sept. 25 from year-ago levels. So far this month, sales are up 0.9% from the same period in Aug. Separately, the...

IN BRIEF.(TO THE POINT)
September 29, 2004... A trans-Atlantic group led by Lockheed Martin won a $3 bil contract to design and develop the Medium Extended Air Defense System, which is slated to replace Patriot missiles in the next decade. Shares rose 1.5% to 55.50. Carnival said...

NATION.(TO THE POINT)
September 29, 2004... Diplomats fall short on message Many foreign service officers lack language skills, and U.S. ambassadors don't spend enough time promoting American values and culture, a White House panel said. The panel said ambassadors should spend at...

WORLD.(TO THE POINT)
September 29, 2004... Afghan warlord on campaign trail Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostam held the biggest rally of the country's presidential race with a gathering of thousands in his northern home town. Dostam, an ethic Uzbek, is one of the two known warlords running...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
September 29, 2004... New DVDs will hold more data British researchers are developing DVDs that can store up to 1,000 gigabytes of data, more than 100 times the current capacity of the DVD. DVDs have grooves filled with tiny pits that reflect light, which the...

TRENDS & INNOVATIONS.(TO THE POINT)
September 29, 2004... ** The cost of health insurance rose 3 times as fast as the average wage did, Families USA found. While average earnings rose 12% from '00-04, average employee insurance premiums rose 36%. Employer costs rose 32.6%. ** Up to half of...

TAKE ACTION Fine-Tuning Your Vision.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)(IBD'S 10 SECRETS TO SUCCESS)
September 29, 2004... Byline: Cord Cooper 3 Ari Weinzweig and Paul Saginaw have morphed their firm from a single deli in Ann Arbor, Mich., into eight units run by managing partners. During the last two years, sales have risen 67%, from $13 million to...

Ad Executive Shelly Lazarus; Build A Strong Team: She finds the right 10 people and gets out of their way.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
September 29, 2004... Byline: MARILYN MUCH Early in her career, ad agency executive Shelly Lazarus had a disturbing encounter with her new boss. It was the 1980s, and Lazarus was an account supervisor for Ogilvy & Mather. Lazarus and her boss had...

Plenty Of Players In Mobile Game Market; But Shakeout Expected; Sales of video games for cell phones growing fast, attracting some big boys.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
September 29, 2004... Byline: MIKE ANGELL Video games for mobile phones may not seem a very grown-up endeavor. But publishers say the industry is maturing quickly. Sales of such games are growing fast, as more consumers get color screen phones with enough...

WebSideStory's Act I, After A Few Twists, Ending Well With IPO; Four Years After First Attempt; The dot-com survivor offers clients ways to analyze the performance of Web sites.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
September 29, 2004... Byline: J. BONASIA After plenty of plot twists, WebSideStory seems to have had a happy ending for Act 1 of its story. The company, which provides services to help clients gauge the performance of their e-commerce Web sites, twice in...

Cadence, Synopsys Battle For Claim To No. 1; Back-And-Forth Affair; The leaders in software to design chips moving to a subscription model.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)
September 29, 2004... Byline: JAMES DETAR The new leader in chip design software sales has a familiar face. It should. It's held the top spot before. Cadence Design Systems last quarter edged Synopsys for the market lead, the latest change in their...

Cooking Up A Comfortable Hotel; General manager Susser even helps in the kitchen at Doubletree near Philly.(A)(NEWS FOR YOU: TRAVEL)
September 29, 2004... Byline: CHRIS BARNETT Too many hotel general managers act like lords of their castle, holding court on their office thrones in endless meetings with underlings and rarely appearing in public. But Wayne Susser, general manager of the...

RETAIL TRENDS Success In The Cards For Leading Retailers?(THE NEW AMERICA)
September 29, 2004... Byline: LAURA MANDARO For years, department stores and other retailers have fled the credit-card business, leaving the profitable but volatile revenue stream to the increasingly large credit-card banks. Not Target Corp. It's...

AMERICAN EAGLE OUTFITTERS Warrendale, Pennsylvania; Apparel Chain Gets That Teen Spirit -- Again.(THE NEW AMERICA)
September 29, 2004... Byline: MARILYN MUCH Sometimes it takes a major blunder to move a business back on track. That's what happened to the crew at teen clothing chain American Eagle Outfitters. American Eagle designs and sells its own brand of casual...

Hummer Holds Stocks For Long Term; Some Owned Since '82; Manager Tom Rowland wants growth, but only when he can buy cheap.(MUTUAL FUNDS)(MUTUAL FUND PROFILE)
September 29, 2004... Byline: KEN HOOVER Wayne Hummer Growth Fund wants growth companies only if it can get them at bargain prices. Once it does, unlike many growth funds, it will holds its best names for years. "It says growth in the name, but we're very...

Despots In Power.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
September 29, 2004... Property Rights: For years governments have taken private lands with almost no thought to constitutional limits or the injustice of their acts. The nation's highest court may soon bring this to an end. It all depends on how the Supreme...

The Peanut Gallery.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(EDITORIALS)(Editorial)
September 29, 2004... Election: Jimmy Carter thinks elections are freer and fairer in Mozambique, Venezuela and Indonesia than in Florida. This is our "greatest living ex-president"? Funny, Carter didn't have a problem earlier this year, when New Jersey Gov....

Siren Of Defeatism Will Grate On Americans' Ears Thursday.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)(VIEWPOINT)
September 29, 2004... Byline: LAWRENCE KUDLOW One of the reasons John Kerry is going to lose the foreign-policy debate Thursday night in Florida is that he is a pessimist and a defeatist. His attacks on President Bush's war on terror are right out of the...

How To Get A Head Start On New Technology Trends.(MAKING MONEY)(INVESTOR'S CORNER)
September 29, 2004... Byline: JONAH KERI In early 2000, scads of magazine covers featured headlines cheering for the roaring tech rally that would never end. Too bad it ended early that year. The Nasdaq is still well below its March 2000 peak. But history...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Small, Large Caps Share In NYSE's Up Day.(MAKING MONEY)
September 29, 2004... Byline: JONAH KERI A surge of late buying lifted NYSE stocks in higher volume Tuesday. The Dow rose 0.9%, the S&P 500 0.6%. Small caps fared best, as the S&P 600 gained 1.2%. Volume finished higher than Monday's level, and above...

Analyze, Profit From IBD's Market Charts.(GENERAL MARKET & SECTORS)
September 29, 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...

PetroChina Regroups After Big 2003 Gains.(B)(NYSE STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
September 29, 2004... Byline: Jonah Keri PetroChina was one of the roaring success stories in the Chinese ADR market last year. The industrial revolution in that nation spawned huge gains for a wide array of stocks, including a number of energy and basic...

THE REAL MOST ACTIVE Nasdaq Rises As Steel, Oil, Freight Stocks Shine.(B)
September 29, 2004... Byline: CRAIG SHAW Steel and energy stocks led the market higher Tuesday as oil closed just below $50 a barrel. The Nasdaq erased morning losses to finish up 0.5% on heavier turnover. The large-cap Nasdaq 100 gained 0.3%. Steel...

Niku Continues Basing After Strong Q2 Profit.(B)(NASDAQ STOCKS IN THE NEWS)
September 29, 2004... Byline: Craig Shaw Niku Corp. has marked six straight up weeks while building the right side of its nearly seven-month pattern. The stock needs to climb within 5%-15% of its 52-week high before pausing to shape a handle. It's now 24% off...

Energy Stocks Turn Skeptics Into Believers; High Times For Tanker Firms.(A)
September 28, 2004... Byline: JONAH KERI A continuing surge in oil prices and global demand has fueled heady gains for related stocks. Crude surged again Monday, hitting a new high of $49.75 before closing at $49.64 a barrel. Oil has vaulted 14% since...

AMT Bomb Still Ticks Despite 1-Year Relief; Millions in middle class may soon face the tax despite short-term fix.(A)
September 28, 2004... Byline: PAUL KATZEFF The $146 billion tax package that Congress sent to President Bush extends several popular middle-class tax breaks -- the $1,000 child tax credit, a larger 10% tax bracket and marriage penalty relief. Less widely...

IBD'S TOP 10.(A)
September 28, 2004... Oil Prices Surge To Record High 1Nov. crude peaked at $49.75 before closing up 76 cents to $49.64 a barrel on slow output recovery in the Gulf of Mexico and violence in Nigeria and elsewhere. Crude hit $50 in overnight trading. Iraqi...

AFTER THE CLOSE.(TO THE POINT)
September 28, 2004... DEVON will split 2-for-1 and buy back 10% of its stock, as rising gas and oil prices generate cash. It'll also sell assets, raising $1 bil -$1.5 bil, and move to NYSE from the Amex. Share rose. PENN VIRGINIA warned its '04 energy...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
September 28, 2004... TECHNOLOGY Microsoft ready to pare browser The computer and software giant said it's ready to sell a version of Windows that doesn't contain its own Media Player software if a judge doesn't suspend a landmark European Union...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
September 28, 2004... MEDICAL Nastech surges on obesity spray The drug maker jumped 70% to 13.15 after revealing it's developing a nasal spray treatment for obesity with pharma giant Merck. Nastech is basing the treatment on a naturally occurring hormone...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
September 28, 2004... TRANSPORTATION Airlines suffer more turbulence Airline stocks drifted lower after J.P. Morgan cut its guidance on AirTran, JetBlue and Frontier. Weighted down by US Airways' recent bankruptcy, plus Delta and United Airlines'...

BUSINESS BRIEFS.(TO THE POINT)
September 28, 2004... BUILDING Cemex cements deal for U.K. firm The Mexican cement giant will pay $4.2 bil in cash and $1.7 bil in debt for Britain's RMC Group, one of the largest makers of ready-mix concrete. The deal will double Cemex's revenue and help...