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Wild volatility returned to the U.S. equity market. On the back of today’s surge, the Dow and S&P500 ended the week with gains of just under 1%. The Morgan Stanley Consumer index added 1%, while the Morgan Stanley Cyclical index was about unchanged. The Transports and Utilities, however, ended the week 2% in the red. The broader market was about unchanged, with the small cap Russell 2000 flat and the S&P400 Mid-Cap index down about 1%. The technology sector was strong. The NASDAQ 100 gained 3%, returning the index to break-even for the year. The Morgan Stanley High tech index...

XXX >>> Streaming Video <<< XXX PAUL KANGAS: My guest market monitor this week is Jeffrey Everett, Chief Investment Officer for Templeton Global Advisors. And welcome back to NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Jeff. JEFFREY EVERETT, CHIEF INVST. OFFICER, TEMPLETON GLOBAL ADVISORS: Thank you, Paul. KANGAS: Given the rather bleak 2003 outlooks coming from Microsoft (MSFT) and IBM and the stock market's lousy performance, I mean can we conclude that this nation is facing a double dip recession? EVERETT: I think it's highly unlikely. I think the Bush plan helps gets us through a double dip threat. I also think investors will...

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - After two years of hoping in vain for a recovery, which many said was only six months away, companies are now writing off all of 2003 and focusing on 2004 for any improvements in their markets. Two weeks into the new year, key European and U.S. companies have toned down their hopes for economic bloom. Slow consumer spending, a possible war in Iraq and the resulting high oil prices could further dampen business activity. In the past week, airlines, technology and chemicals companies, banks and retailers have all said they are hesitant to predict the upturn for...

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) - New York Federal Reserve President William McDonough will retire this July, vacating a powerful position within the U.S. central bank. McDonough, 68, was considered a dove in his views on interest rates, generally siding with Chairman Alan Greenspan. In nearly 10 years on the Federal Open Market Committee, he never dissented from the majority view. "I will greatly miss Bill McDonough's counsel and advice. After a decade of exemplary service to the Federal Reserve System, his retirement will leave a pronounced void," Greenspan said in a statement. Unlike the other 11 Fed presidents who rotate in and...

Suddenly, dividends glitter. But the only thing that will substantially improve yields isn't a tax cut, it's more reasonable stock prices. Until then, I think there's more upside in gold. We may just have rung in 2003, but Wall Street can't seem to tear itself away from the mania of years gone by. Hype and hope still trump the fundamentals that warrant neither. In addition, visions of dividend morsels distract folks from the caliber of earnings that drive them. In the frenzy to pay up for overvalued stocks, they ignore a store of value that has survived a couple of...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Major U.S. retailers started the new year about the same way they ended the old one, with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and others on Monday reporting tepid sales at or below expectations so far in January. Analysts expect no quick fix for the retail sector this year, coming off a disappointing holiday sales season that showed the smallest sales gain in more than 30 years. The sector is likely to underperform the broader market, analysts said, hamstrung by a sluggish economy, the nagging threat of war with Iraq, price deflation and a general lack of must-have new...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - People swear that Wall Street has been penalized enough for its excesses in the 1990s. The market has fallen so much over the past three years, they say, that it should turn higher, no matter how bad the economic script. But the smart money says: Just because the market has racked up four straight years of losses only once from 1929 to 1932, doesn't mean it can't do it again. ``If there is a fourth down year, many investors are likely to look for a fifth -- or a case of them,'' says James Dines, editor...

"...Something is afoot, and whatever in the hell it is, I guarantee that it will end badly. Monetary idiocy always ends badly. Always. And with the current level of irresponsible Fed excess it will not only end badly, but very, very badly. Don't believe me, eh? Well, keep looking out of your window for the proof. But if you are so economically-illiterate that you have any doubts whatsoever, then you are certainly not going to believe what you see with your own eyes. So sit back down in your chair and turn on the TV. Oh! Look! There is somebody...

XXX >>> Streaming Video <<< XXX PAUL KANGAS: My guest market monitor this week is Robert Drach, Editor and Publisher of the "Drach Weekly Research Report." Welcome back to NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Bob. ROBERT DRACH, EDITOR, "DRACH WEEKLY RESEARCH REPORT": Thank you, Paul. It's good to speak with you again. KANGAS: Well, the stock market began the new year with one of its strongest rallies ever, which, according to the early January indicator theory, means the pattern has been set for year 2003 and it's going to be an up year for stocks. Do you put any credence in that?...

When I discuss the "fundamentals" with investors or the media, it is often with the caveat that "I'm not a fundamental analyst." My late and much-lamented dad, Jack Schaeffer, might respond, "Are you bragging or complaining?" In fact, there is not much for fundamental analysts to brag about these days. During my appearance on the November 15, 2002 edition of Wall Street Week, I discussed (using WorldCom as my example) the fact that fundamental analysis provides no inherent exit strategy. It is thus fully exposed to the "death-spiral" process whereby, as a stock declines to lower and lower depths, it...