LINDA O'BRYON: Wall Street finished out a losing year with more of the same today. The Dow fell 115 points, and the NASDAQ lost 36. Two-thousand-one was, to put it bluntly, a dismal year for investors, and most are glad to see it gone. Scott Gurvey looks back at the trading record for the year.

SCOTT GURVEY, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: The closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange brought down the curtain on a most trying year for investors. Although major market averages have recovered the ground they lost after the terrorist attacks in September, they still finished down for the year.

AL GOLDMAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, A.G. EDWARDS: Two-thousand-one is a year that I think everybody wants to get behind us. We had a 19-month bear market, we had a recession and of course we had the tragedy of September 11. So a lot of very negative events capped by 9-11, but a year that people want to get behind us and we have much better things to look forward to in the new year.

GURVEY: For the record, the Dow 30 lost 7 percent for the year. It is the first time since 1977 and '78 that the Dow has declined for two years in a row. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 13 percent and the NASDAQ Composite lost 21 percent. The Russell2000 was a rare bright spot, gaining 1 percent, indicative of the relatively good performance by small cap issues. That was small consolation for most investors, who saw some of the biggest names in technology and some of the world's largest corporations sink lower in 2001. Using the Wilshire 5000 as a proxy for the overall market, investors' wealth declined by a whopping $1.68 trillion. The Wilshire Index fell 11 ½ percent, and there is still considerable uncertainty about the new year. Many analysts are concerned that valuations are still high unless earnings improve.

TOM MCMANUS, EQUITY STRATEGIST, BANC OF AMERICA SECURITIES: We're looking for earnings to be quite modest, earnings growth to be quite modest coming through 2002. The first couple of quarters we think will be negative comparisons to 2001. The third quarter we think will be about flat versus to 2001 and the fourth quarter we think will be up double digits.

GURVEY: Analysts are generally expecting earnings growth to be flat in 2002, with the stock market gaining in the second half. Scott Gurvey, "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.

PAUL KANGAS: By midnight tonight, two-thirds of the nation's commercial insurance policies must be renewed. But after Congress failed to pass federal terrorism insurance, some insurance companies are canceling coverage for large property owners. As Darren Gersh reports, insurance agents are scrambling to find alternatives.

DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Bill Simons is finding insurance companies are awfully curious these days. Simons owns a large insurance agency in Washington. Many of his clients' property and terrorism policies renew on New Year's Day, and Simons says insurance companies are sending him a long list of questions.

BILL SIMONS, PRESIDENT, RUST INSURANCE AGENCY: "How many of this insured's employees are going to be in the Capitol Building at any one time? What kind of equipment would they have in the Capitol Building at any one time? What about at their main location? What are the shifts, how many employees on each shift?" These are questions that were never asked or considered in the past.

GERSH: Even so, most of Simons's clients have had no problem renewing their coverage. But one, a large hospital, has already been told it's policy will be canceled in April.

SIMONS: I think I'll get it solved, but it may be difficult, I may not be able to get it solved. But if I can't, then nobody can. And I mean, it's going to be a bigger problem than just my agency and my account. It's going to be a national problem.

GERSH: Terrorism insurance is a bigger problem for cities with bigger buildings. Many insurance companies, fearing another major attack, are already canceling policies in New York. The uncertainty could disrupt some major real estate transactions.

CLIFTON RODGERS, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, REAL ESTATE ROUNDTABLE: As this starts to permeate, you're going to see a sort of a trickle effect throughout the overall economy.

GERSH: Insurance analyst Alice Schroeder warns small cities may soon face the same problems. Schroeder studied terrorism in the United Kingdom. As the city of London became more protected, she says terrorists attacked softer targets in smaller cities.

ALICE SCHROEDER, INSURANCE ANALYST, MORGAN STANLEY: Any concentration of property values has some terrorism risk. Remember that part of the purpose of terrorism is to surprise, so terrorists choose locations that might surprise you.

GERSH: Congress tried, but failed to approve federal terrorism insurance this year, and some companies hope a bill will pass next year, but political analysts here are not so optimistic. Darren Gersh, "NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT," Washington.

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.

LINDA O'BRYON: Well, it has been a tough year for the nation's airlines and not just for the big carriers. Smaller ones like Fort Lauderdale based Spirit Airlines have been affected, as well. Spirit has developed a loyal following in recent years. Jeff Yastine looks at how it's weathering the industry's economic storm.

JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: 2001 should have been a triumphant year for privately held Spirit Airlines. The carrier has added routes and planes and celebrated more than a decade as a scheduled passenger airline. Then along came the September attacks, which hurt Spirit like all the other carriers.

NED HOMFELD, CHAIRMAN, SPIRIT AIRLINES: We have been an airline for 11 years now and, you know, we've experienced a very slow and gradual careful growth, you know? And that's what we're really doing now. Yes, we had intended on being considerably larger and expanding considerably faster prior to 9-11. But we are keeping with our roots of being conservative and careful and growing as we can.

YASTINE: Spirit Chairman Ned Homfeld founded the airline and has overseen its growth from a charter carrier to one with regular service to more than a dozen cities in seven states and Puerto Rico. Homfeld says the carrier laid off some staff and reduced service in a few markets in the first weeks after the attacks. But a month later, Spirit added a new route to San Juan and added flights to other cities it already serves. But Homfeld says the airline needed government loan guarantees extended to the industry.

HOMFELD: These are critical to the survival of the industry and, you know, Spirit's part of that industry. You know, the loan guarantees, you know, we're looking forward to them because things certainly did change on 9-11. you know, airlines have less access to the credit markets post 9-11 than they did on 9-10 and we're in the same group.

YASTINE: Homfeld says things have been looking up again. Flights that left mostly empty are now mostly full and holiday ticket sales were good. Flexibility, he says, has been the key to the airline's survival in the past months.

HOMFELD: A small airline does that automatically. That's, you know, in the competitive world, we move to where we see an opportunity. If the opportunity were to change, we could change with it very rapidly. That's what we have to do, you know?

YASTINE: Homfeld says he doesn't expect an immediate recovery for his industry. He says that will only come with time as consumer confidence returns and travelers become used to the new security arrangements at U.S. airports. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

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: Although it has been a down year for stocks on Wall Street overall, the market actually showed some positive signs in the fourth quarter. And here to provide us with some details is Paul Cherney, Chief Real Time Market Analyst for Standard & Poor's. Thanks for being with us, Paul.

PAUL CHERNEY, CHIEF REAL-TIME MARKET ANALYST, STANDARD & POOR'S: My pleasure, Paul.

KANGAS: How did the major averages fare in these last three months?

CHERNEY: Well, you know, I think that we put in a bottom that's going to be the beginning of a bull market and that all three of the majors that we're looking at were up.

KANGAS: Thirteen percent for the Dow. Is this in anticipation of an economic recovery or what's, just a technical rebound or what?

CHERNEY: Well, it's a little bit of a technical rebound but more importantly I think it's anticipation that the economy is going to turn the corner and that the earnings situation will improve.

KANGAS: Well, the Nasdaq certainly did well, didn't it?

CHERNEY: Well, the NASDAQ was also hammered the most and technically that's what you tend to see. Those that are hurt the most on the way down tend to rebound with the same kind of volatility.

KANGAS: I would like to point out it's the NASDAQ 100 we're looking at, not the Composite. Now, let's look at some winners in the Dow Industrial average, led by Intel (INTC).

CHERNEY: Intel had a good quarter and this is exactly the case expecting things to turn around and moving into the better known tech names that have balance sheets.

KANGAS: How about United Tech (UTX)? It's a stock that makes things for war. Is that the reason?

CHERNEY: That's part of it, but they also are basic industrial stock which people look to as the market turned and in anticipation of going higher.

KANGAS: And the big retailer Home Depot (HD) did well, too.

CHERNEY: Home Depot knows how to do it. They know how to put it out.

KANGAS: No more need be said there. The big losers, SBC Communications (SBC).

CHERNEY: Telecom has had tribunals and their problems with trying to be in long distance, etc., it's been a burden to them.

KANGAS: And Merck (MRK).

CHERNEY: Merck had a great run up at the end of the fourth quarter last year. It struggled this year. Vioxx sales not as good sales as expected. Pipeline not very good.

KANGAS: Kodak (EK) down there with a $3.10 loss for the last three months.

CHERNEY: They're still shuffling around in Kodak trying to figure out what will make it work.

KANGAS: OK. Now, let's have a look at the Standard & Poor's 500. two big winners, Network Appliance (NTAP).

CHERNEY: Network Appliance is a data storage company which wasn't doing well but after the World Trade Center situation people realized that it's very important to have proper storage and backup.

KANGAS: And Palm (PALM) did all right.

CHERNEY: Well, this was a, this got hammered into the fourth, into the September and then rebounded dramatically.

KANGAS: Right. It certainly did. On the downside, Providian Financial (PVN) led the troops.

CHERNEY: Sub prime lenders and real concerns about their ability to repay loans.

KANGAS: And Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI).

CHERNEY: Here's a company that was in the generic drug business and the day that they announced that they were going to start looking to do branded drugs, it dropped like a rock.

KANGAS: All right, now let's look at some winners in the Nasdaq 100 Index. Ariba (ARBA) had a rather nice percentage move, didn't it?

CHERNEY: On a percentage basis, yes. But you have to realize that this stock got hammered going into September. So the rebound is as much technical as anything.

KANGAS: And there we see Network Appliance.

CHERNEY: Yes. Good performance shows up in a couple of different Indexes.

KANGAS: It sure does. On the downside, McLeod USA.

CHERNEY: That's the telecom and the troubles that this company has had have just been over and over, credit quality concerns, etc.

KANGAS: And Verisign (VRSN) had a bad time of it.

CHERNEY: Internet related, you know? The authentication for purchases, etc.

KANGAS: All right. We have half a minute, Paul. As Chief Market Analyst for standard & Poor's, what do you think about the market in the next six months?

CHERNEY: I think that there's a possibility that we'll see a struggle for the upside, but I think that the upside will be the ultimate resolution over the next six months. Retracements will be viewed by the markets as buying opportunities, but I think that a lot of the money sitting on the sidelines will want to see a little bit more tangible proof that the economy has turned a corner and that earnings will improve.

KANGAS: Very good. And thanks so much for being with us, Paul. And a Happy New Year to you.

CHERNEY: Happy New Year to you.

KANGAS: Paul Cherney, Chief Real Time Market Analyst for Standard & Poor's.

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: To no one's great surprise, the stock market opened slightly lower in quiet trading today feeling the downside pressure of some last minute tax-loss selling on this final day of trading of the year. The Dow Industrial Average fell 30 points by 10:30 a.m., while the NASDAQ Index posted nearly a 15 point loss. In the absence of any major reports on the economy and a brokerage community being staffed by skeleton crews, the market continued to drift lower for the rest of the morning and throughout the noon-hour. At 1:00 p.m., the Dow was down 53 points and the NASDAQ Index was off about 13. The afternoon brought some minor bargain hunting which cut the Dow's loss to 20 points around 2:15 p.m., but there was no follow-through and a late spurt of selling sent the Dow Industrial Average to a closing loss of 115.49 points, putting it at 10,021.50. The NASDAQ Index ended with a loss of 36.86 at 1950.40.

Big board volume moved up about 51 million shares from Friday. And down volume exceeded up volume by almost 2 to 1.

The Dow Transport Index off a little over 3 points.

Utilities down 0.56.

The Closing Tick, a very minor bullish +137.

Standard & Poor's 500 off nearly 13 points.

About a 7 1/2-point drop on the 100.

The MidCap 400 off nearly 6 1/4.

Bridge Futures Price Index down 1.33.

New York Stock Exchange Composite off a little over 4 1/2.

A little over 2 1/2-point drop on the Value Line.

Russell2000 Small Cap Index fell 5.12.

And the broadly-based Wilshire 5000 ending the year with nearly a 111-point loss, 1 percent.

The bond market staged a solid technical rebound today following Friday's sell-off, but with trading activity as thin as it was, it didn't take much buying to lift prices. A $0.57 per barrel drop in New York February oil futures was a plus factor, and so was the downturn in the stock market which prompted some safe haven buying. At the early 2:00 p.m. closing, tax free and corporate issues were up 1/2 to 3/4 of a point on average. And the Treasury market did well across the board.

The 5-year notes rising 12/32.

The 10-year notes up 20/32.

The 30-year bond gained 1 full point.

And the Lehman Brothers Long-Term Treasury Bond Index was up nearly 10 1/2 points.

As you've already seen, it was a very dull day on Wall Street. But the bears were out and they set the trend, down 115 1/2 points on the Dow. But the broader market actually higher by 48 issues. 134 new yearly highs as against only 16 new lows.

Lucent Technologies (LU) topped the active list on 14.7 million shares, edging up $0.11.

Followed by Solectron (SLR), which gained $0.53.

Then General Electric (GE) ending the year just over $40 a share with that $0.67 loss.

Compaq Computer (CPQ) fell $0.13.

EMC (EMC), an $0.11 loss, and fifth in volume.

Motorola (MOT) managed to gain $0.12.

And then AOL Time Warner (AOL) a $1 drop.

Waters Corporation (WAT) off $1.25.

Halliburton Company (HAL) a $0.09.

Tenth in volume was NorTel Networks (NT), gaining $0.24.

AT&T (T) ended the year at $18.14, with a $0.04 loss.

Bristol-Myers (BMY) dropping $0.80, although Goldman Sachs said buy on the weakness. But one of the problems for the company, its partner, ImClone Corporation (IMCL) failed to get FDA approval for its cancer drug called Erbitux.

Citigroup (C) ended the year at $50.48, down $0.71.

Eastman Kodak (EK) a loss of $1.05. The new "Baron's" financial magazine notes that analyst Marc Roberts (ph) is recommending this stock should be sold short. He sees a dividend cut coming.

Home Depot (HD) down $0.49.

And IBM (IBM) ended the year at almost $121 a share, but down $1.94.

America West Holdings (AWA) the best percentage gainer of the day. The Federal Air Transportation Stabilization Board has approved a $380 million loan guarantee. Of course, it has various conditions for the company.

USAirways (U), however, was up in sympathy with that news, gaining $0.74.

MetroGas (MGS) a nice move of $1.35. But we were unable to get through to their offices in Argentina. The company was closed today. It's in the gas distribution business.

Boyds Collection (FOB) down $0.93, the biggest percentage loser, well, they were closed today, as so many offices were, and they're in the collectible business.

TETRA Technologies (TTI) down $1.88. No one at the company returned our calls. Just one of those days, folks, you can understand.

Tower Auto (TWR) losing $0.37. It's going to take a $289 million fourth quarter charge related to job cuts, relocation expenses, etc.

Nasdaq trading, a loss of nearly 37 points in the Composite Index today. Volume up to 1.4 billion shares, a little heavier than Friday, and just about 93 more issues on the up side than on the down side.

Microsoft (MSFT) topped the active list, down $1.62. The nine states that are opposed to the government's anti-trust settlement with the company have asked a federal judge to reject the company's request for a delay in the sanction hearin