SUSIE GHARIB: The bulls charged up Wall Street today. The Dow closed above the psychologically important 10,000 mark for the first time in three months, and the NASDAQ closed above 2,000 as investors furiously bought stocks on hopes that the economy will recover next year. The Dow surged 220 points and the NASDAQ sprinted 83 points up over 4 percent. Erika Miller reports.

ERIKA MILLER, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: It may have taken several months, but two of the market's best known indexes are finally revisiting old milestones. The Dow closed above the 10,000 mark today for the first time in three months, rallying 23 percent from its September 21 low. And the NASDAQ pushed above 2,000, a level it hasn't seen since early August. Technology stocks were by far the best performers, although most sectors registered gains.

DOUGLAS CLIGGOTT, CHIEF US EQUITY STRATEGIST, JP MORGAN: There has definitely been a sentiment shift not really just in the last day or two, but really over the past two months. And what I think is behind this shift in sentiment is a growing confidence of a pretty strong economic recovery next year.

MILLER: As for today, investors got encouraging news about the services sector. The National Association of Purchasing Management's non- manufacturing survey rose unexpectedly to 51.3 percent, reversing a slump that followed the September 11 terrorist attacks, plus, a reading above 50 indicates growth. The market also had a chance to react to positive news from Oracle (ORCL). Chief Executive Larry Ellison told analysts last night that the company could deliver, in his words, spectacular margin expansion soon after the economy turns. Also helping the market was news that Salomon Smith Barney raised its earnings per share forecasts for the Standard and Poor's 500 for this year and next. It was the first upward revision in two years.

TOBIAS LEFKOVICH, SR. EQUITY STRATEGIST, SALOMON SMITH BARNEY: We raised our earnings target for the S&P 500 this morning because industrial activity does seem to be getting there. Industrial production typically drives corporate margins and earnings.

MILLER: Wall Street pros are optimistic that more good news from the tech front will power the market higher tomorrow. Intel (INTC) will be providing its business update, and some analysts predict the company will raise profit forecasts. Erika Miller, "NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT," New York.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. Updates may be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice. © 2001 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.

12/05/01: Attorney Melvyn Weiss Prepares To Take On Enron

SUSIE GHARIB: More lawsuits for Enron. Amalgamated Bank in New York, which manages worker retirement funds, sued Enron for insider trading and wants to freeze the bank accounts of the company's executives. The suit charges that Enron insiders reaped huge profits by artificially inflating the stock price of the company. This lawsuit is the latest of about 15 filed against Enron. The lawyer in many of these cases is our guest tonight: Melvyn Weiss is the founding partner of Milberg Weiss, the largest firm in the country specializing in class action litigation and he joins us live from Midtown Manhattan. And thank you very much for joining us, Mr. Weiss. And I just want to point out that we did invite someone from Enron to join in the discussion but the company did not return any of our calls. Now certainly it's normal for executives of a company to want to diversify their portfolios. And while there have been all sorts of questions about the management and mismanagement at Enron, how do you know that insider trading was committed?

MELVYN WEISS, PARTNER, MILBERG WEISS BERSHAD HYNES & LERACH LLP: Well, we know that a billion 100 million dollars of stock was sold by these insiders during the last year. That was during a period when we know that the financial statements of the company were false and misleading. They've already admitted by restating the last four years that they overstated the income by $600 million and that they had over a billion dollars of assets on the books that didn't belong there.

GHARIB: But are you saying that by restating financials that fraud was committed, because there's a lot of companies that restate their financials but you don't necessarily say it was fraudulent?

WEISS: Well, we're talking about what the directors did and what the officers did when they sold their stock, they were selling it at a time when the stock was artificially inflated by earnings that didn't exist.

GHARIB: But do you have information that shows the percentage of those sales so that one can distinguish between actually trying to diversify your portfolio as opposed to dumping stock?

WEISS: There's no justification for selling stock on false information. They knew that they put a billion dollars of false assets on the books and they were selling stock while they knew that. We believe that they knew a lot more, and we allege it. There are a lot of transactions that were structured for the sole purpose of making it appear as if there were profits that didn't exist.

GHARIB: Now this…

WEISS: They…

GHARIB: Go ahead.

WEISS: There were related party transactions that they were involved in. And I am confident that they understood exactly what was going on.

GHARIB: Now, this is just one of dozens of lawsuits that are being waged against the company. Looking at the other class-action lawsuits that you are involved with, given that Enron is now in bankruptcy, what are the chances that shareholders will be able to recover any money considering that they're going to be at the end of the line with all these other creditors?

WEISS: Unfortunately in the bankruptcy proceeding against the company itself, that's true. They're at the bottom of the totem pole behind the creditors. But there are other targets of the litigation, such as the outside auditors, the officers and directors, the investment bankers who were the underwriters for the bond offerings and we think maybe some of the other entities with whom they were doing business were conspiring with them to raise the profits to make it look like it was more than existed.

GHARIB: Well, these are really serious charges and I'm told by legal experts that typically it's very difficult to win cases against auditing firms, you know, while they may have made errors in judgment, that to find them on fraud is difficult.

WEISS: Well, Arthur Andersen was there for at least four years that we're aware of, by their own admission, certifying statements that were false, and false and misleading. And, shockingly, its chairman wrote an op-ed piece on Sunday admitting that the financial statements didn't tell all of the material facts that were necessary to properly evaluate the financial condition of the company. He's blaming it on a set of rules that he claims don't provide for these kinds of disclosures. I disagree with that.

GHARIB: OK, I'm going to have to cut off. We've run out of time. Obviously, this is a very complicated story and one that we will continue tracking. We appreciate you coming on our program tonight.

WEISS: Thank you.

GHARIB: And we've been speaking with Melvyn Weiss with the class action law firm of Milberg, Weiss.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. Updates may be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice. © 2001 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.

12/05/01: Kevin McCormally's Tax Tips-College Costs

SUSIE GHARIB: If you want to be smart about saving money on your taxes, you might want to start with school. Our tax tip tonight looks at college costs. Here's Kevin McCormally, Editorial Director of "Kiplinger's Personal Finance."

KEVIN MCCORMALLY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, KIPLINGER'S PERSONAL FINANCE: Have you seen the latest news about college costs? Well, just let me tell you, I'm glad my youngest is just a semester away from graduating. But if you're still saving for college or paying tuition or paying back student loans, at least the tax law is filled with breaks to make it a little easier. Here are three ways to take advantage of them. First, if you're using a state college savings plan, also known as a Section 529 plan, don't pull out any money this month. Earnings withdrawn in December will be taxed in the student's tax bracket. But in January, all withdrawals will be completely tax free. Second, if you are planning to take advantage of the newly beefed up education savings account next year, don't wait. These accounts used to be called education IRAs and no more than $500 a year could be set aside for any child. Next year the limit goes to $2,000 and we expect a lot more parents to sign up. But again, there's no reason to wait. Open an account for your child before year end and kick in a $500 head start contribution. Then add $2,000 next year. Finally, if you're paying back student loans, make the most of the rule that lets you write off the interest. This year, if your adjusted gross income is under $40,000 on a single return or under $60,000 on a joint return, you can deduct up to $2,500 of interest even if you don't itemize deductions. If you qualify, be sure you're up to date with your payments so you get the biggest possible deduction. And if your income is too high to claim the deduction this year, consider putting off loan payments until January. Starting next year, higher income limits apply and you might qualify for the deduction. I'm Kevin McCormally

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. Updates may be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice. © 2001 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.

12/05/01: How To Turn Your Workplace Into A Lean Mean Fighting Machine

SUSIE GHARIB: The slumping economy is sending corporate America back to school. Companies are learning the art of what's called lean manufacturing. As Diane Eastabrook explains, it's a concept that helps companies reduce costs so they can profit in any economy.

DIANE EASTABROOK, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Trent Tube is still running this steel tubing plant the way it did 60 years ago. But that's about to change.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: OK, we've got 45 seconds.

EASTABROOK: This is a lean manufacturing workshop. Here Trent Tube managers and production workers are playing a simulation game that will help them identify and eliminate inefficiencies in the company's decades old production system. That system was based on customers ordering product months in advance, something that rarely happens anymore.

CHRIS ODACHOWSKI, PRESIDENT, TRENT TUBE: Today we have to manufacture it and purchase the steel and deliver it in weeks.

EASTABROOK: Toyota ™ brought lean manufacturing to the United States about a decade ago when it began opening plants here. Large U.S. companies embraced the concept very quickly, but smaller companies did not begin adopting lean manufacturing strategies until a couple of years ago. The Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership has been offering lean manufacturing classes to small firms like Trent Tube for the past few years. The not for profit group says interest has been soaring this year because the economy has slowed, allowing companies more time for training. But the group says there's another incentive.

MICHAEL KLONSINSKI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WISCONSIN MANUFACTURING EXTENSION PARTNERSHIP: Nobody's allowing any price increases. In fact, most of the standard is asking for price reductions and nobody's giving on any quality or any on delivery time.

EASTABROOK: Fristam Pumps could be a poster child for lean manufacturing. A few years ago, the firm was missing about half of its delivery deadlines. After attending lean manufacturing classes last year, Fristam was able to identify problems in its production system that wasted time and added to its inventory costs.

JOHN DELMAGE, GENERAL MANAGER, FRISTAM PUMPS, INC.: We were able to reduce our inventory over 30 percent by $1.4 million. So it was very significant. You know, and essentially that's converting inventory to cash.

EASTABROOK: Both Fristam Pumps and Trent Tube believe lean manufacturing can do more than save them money in a tough economy. The companies think the concept can help them make even more money when the economy rebounds. Diane Eastabrook, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, East Troy, Wisconsin.

Nightly Business Report transcripts are available on-line post broadcast. The program is transcribed by eMediaMillWorks. Updates may be posted at a later date. The views of our guests and commentators are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. Nightly Business Report, or WPBT. Information presented on Nightly Business Report is not and should not be considered as investment advice. © 2001 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc.

PAUL KANGAS: Following through on yesterday's impressive rally, high hopes for high technology drove stocks on Wall Street sharply higher on today's opening on those comments from Oracle, attracting plenty of aggressive buying. An hour into the session, the Dow Industrial Average posted a 150-point gain on top of a 130-point jump yesterday and the NASDAQ Index matched yesterday's 58 point run up. Because the early rally lifted the Dow above the 10,000 level and the NASDAQ Composite above 2,000, investors got a nice psychological boost which made them even more bullish. That stronger than expected NAPM Index rise unleashed renewed optimism that the US economy was starting to recover. By 12:30 p.m. the Dow was sporting a 200-point or 2 percent gain. NASDAQ up 75 points, or 3.8 percent. The market's two-day surge caught many bears by surprise, and their rush to cover short positions in afternoon trading helped to sustain the rally. The Dow Industrial Average closed with a gain of 220.45 points, or 2.2 percent, and now stands at 10,114.29. The NASDAQ Index vaulted 83 ¾ points, or 4.3 percent, to 2046.84.

Big board volume impressively higher, about 440 million more shares than yesterday. And almost six times as much up volume as down volume, that was really impressive.

The Dow Transport Index up 77 2/3 points. Only one stock in that 20 stock index was down and that was USAir (U).

Utilities up 1.35.

The Closing Tick just mildly bullish at +372.

Standard & Poor's 500, 100 and 400 all better than 2 percent gainers.

The Bridge Futures Price Index down 0.62.

A gain of almost 10 1/4 points on the New York Composite.

Value Line up 9 2/3 points.

Russell2000 Small Cap up just over 11 1/2 points.

And the broadly based Wilshire 5000 rising 239.69 points, toward a 2.3 percent - about the same percent rise as the Dow Industrials.

Bond prices plunged today in reaction to those signs the economy may be recovering and, of course, many investors sold bonds in order to buy stocks and get in on the current big rally. Another negative was Russia's decision to cut its oil production by 150,000 barrels per day along with indications other non-OPEC producers might curtail output as well.

At the close, tax free and corporate issues were down as much as 1 to 1 1/2 points.

And the Treasury market plummeted across the board.

A 1 5/32 drop in the 5-year note.

A 1 27/32 plunge in the 10-years.

The 30-year down 2 6/32.

The Lehman Brothers Long Index down 30 2/3 points.

For the first time since September 6th, the Dow closed above 10,000 with that massive gain of 220 1/2 points. The broader market almost 2 to 1 positive; 163 new yearly highs, only 35 new lows.

Enron (ENE) topped the active list and gained $0.14 despite all these lawsuits you heard about.

And then Lucent Technologies (LU) moving up $0.39.

And there you see AOL Time Warner (AOL) up $1.08.

General Electric (GE) edged up $0.20.

Compaq Computer (CPQ) an $0.86 gain, fifth in big board volume.

AT&T Wireless (AWE) up nearly a $0.50.

EMC (EMC) was up $0.75.

Micron Technology (MU) on indications that there's good demand for chips these days, up $2.57.

A similar reason for Texas Instruments' (TXN) $2.50 gain.

NorTel Networks (NT) up $0.55, tenth in volume.

AK Steel Holdings (AKS) rose $1.20. Salomon Smith Barney issued a "buy" there.

Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) up $1.63. The company sees first quarter earnings at the upper end of a $0.01 to $0.05 per share range. Alex Brown upgraded the stock from "market perform" to "buy" with a $22 a share target.

Goldman Sachs (GS) an example of stocks in the very firm financial sector.

IBM (IBM) in the high tech sector, up $4.76.

Masco (MAS), in the building products business, up $2.14. First Boston upped its earnings estimate on Masco, repeated a "strong buy."

And USX-U.S. Steel (X) gained $1.31, good percentage move. The "Wall Street Journal" today reported the company and Bethlehem Steel (BS) are in merger talks.

Bethlehem's stock moved up 60 percent today, gaining $0.28 at $0.75 a share.

AutoZone (AZO) had a great day, up $12.56. First quarter earnings sharply higher, $0.76 versus $0.46 last year and Lehman Brothers repeated a "buy."

Infineon Technologies (IFX) up $3.97. It's a big European manufacturer of chips.

EOTT Energy (EOT) up $1.86. The stock's been on a tear since the company said it is not a party to the Enron bankruptcy.

CNF (CNF) up $3.72. The company's positive reaction to its plan to combine its Menlo Logistics, Emery Worldwide and Vector SCM operations into one company. It's going to be called Menlo Worldwide.

Chico's FAS (CHS) up $4.39. Third quarter earnings, $0.32, up nicely from $0.28 last year. Sales up a whopping 36 percent.

One of the few big percentage gainers, NRG Energy (NRG) down $1.15 after Moody's Investors warned that it may downgrade the company's debt rating on two bond issues to junk bond status.

Nasdaq trading, 83 3/4 point gain there, above 2,000 now. Look at the volume, picked up from yesterd