Program: Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Retail Outlook Suggests Luxury Will Make A Holiday Comeback
One On One With Pfizer Chairman Henry McKinnell
If It Trades Like A Stock & Pays Dividends Like A Stock It May Be An ETF
"Inovation Island-"Part 2: The WiFi Connection
Commentary: Economic Growth & The Jobs Recovery
Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News
Market Stats

11/11/03: Retail Outlook Suggests Luxury Will Make A Holiday Comeback

SUSIE GHARIB: A cautious day of trading on Wall Street on this Veteran`s Day holiday: Stocks fell on concerns about possible rising interest rates. The Dow dropped 18 points, the NASDAQ lost 10. One of the bright spots of the day was the retail sector. Both Merrill Lynch and Smith Barney upgraded several retailers on hopes of a strong holiday selling season. And three big retailers reported better-than-expected earnings. J.C. Penney posted third-quarter earnings of $0.27 a share, that was $0.02 more than estimates. But weakness in the company`s Eckerd drug store unit pulled down Penney`s earnings 35 percent compared to the same period a year ago. May Department Stores also posted strong third-quarter numbers: $0.15 a share, that`s triple last year`s result for the same period and well ahead of estimates. May operates the Lord & Taylor and Filene`s department stores and says it benefited from the divestiture of 45 underperforming stores. TJX Companies, the parent of Marshall`s and T.J. Maxx, reported third-quarter earnings of $0.36 a share, a penny ahead of estimates, on solid sales growth.

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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

11/11/03: One On One With Pfizer Chairman Henry McKinnell

SUSIE GHARIB: Pfizer, the world`s largest drug maker, unveiled plans today to donate enough of its Zithromax antibiotic to treat 135 million people for trachoma. The disease, the leading cause of preventable blindness, is endemic in poor nations where clean water is scarce. Pfizer said it would hand out the drug over the next five years, supplementing the 8 million doses it had given during the past five, making it the largest donation of a patented medicine in history. Earlier today, when I talked with Pfizer Chairman and CEO Henry McKinnell, I asked him how far Pfizer`s donation would go to eradicate this disease.

HENRY MCKINNELL, CHMN. & CEO, PFIZER: Well, we`ve been working with the International Trachoma Initiative are the five years now. We`ve achieved remarkable progress in countries like morocco, where we`ve reduced the incidents of trachoma by 90 percent in young children and we`re on track to eradicate blinding trachoma in morocco by 2005. We`re now expanding the program quite dramatically based on this success, and we think we can eradicate trachoma by 2020, a wonderful vision.

GHARIB: That is a wonderful vision. Mr. McKinnell, let`s talk about an issue that`s a little closer to home. It`s expected that Congress is going to vote on some sort of Medicare reform bill before the Thanksgiving recess. What is your view on Medicare reform?

MCKINNELL: Well, it`s time we put politics aside and did what`s right for the elderly patients who will benefit from a prescription drug benefit as part of Medicare, something we support strongly, it should be a good quality benefit.

GHARIB: But what do you see as these reforms impact on the pharmaceutical industry and the importation of drugs from Canada?

MCKINNELL: Well, importation of drugs from Canada is a very bad idea, it`s probably good politics, but we know from an FDA/Customs joint study that 88 percent of the imported drugs they looked at were either counterfeit or not meeting the standards required for approval in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration.

GHARIB: All right. So that`s one thing. And then what about the Medicare reforms, what impact will that have on your industry?

MCKINNELL: Well, so long as it is private sector delivery, which is what is being proposed, I think both patients will do very well with this benefit and the pharmaceutical industry will do very well. It`s only a danger when we have a government-run program that both patients suffer and the industry suffers.

GHARIB: The last time that you and I talked, you mentioned that three of Pfizer`s blockbuster drugs would be losing their patent protection over the next three or four years. And some of the analysts that I`ve talked to say that that would mean a pretty sharp drop in revenues for Pfizer. How are you going to deal with that?

MCKINNELL: Well, we don`t expect a decline in revenues. We do have three products whose patent term ends in the `06-`07-`08 period. But we have three major new drugs now with the FDA under review, and by 2006 we plan to file a total of 20 new drugs. So we think our outlook is very good.

GHARIB: You integrated now Pharmacia into the company, that $60 billion merger. Can you gives us a little update on the cost savings from this merger and also the contribution of Pharmacia to Pfizer`s growth?

MCKINNELL: Well, we`re operating as one company. We`re gaining market share by combining best practices and best people from both companies. We built a better company than either could have been on their own, that`s the major benefit of the merger. We also expect now cost savings, compared to our initial targets of $2.5 billion, we`re now expecting more than $4 billion in cost savings from the combination of the two companies.

GHARIB: Looking at Pfizer stock, it`s pretty much been flat for the year. What`s the future?

MCKINNELL: Well, we`re expecting strong earnings growth in future. I expect the price-earnings ratio will improve as investor confidence returns to the pharmaceutical sector. And I think Pfizer will lead the recovery in drug stocks.

GHARIB: Mr. McKinnell, thank you very much for your time.

MCKINNELL: Susie, good being with you, thank you.

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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

11/11/03: If It Trades Like A Stock & Pays Dividends Like A Stock It May Be An ETF

SUSIE GHARIB: There are reports tonight that criminal charges may soon be filed against Richard Strong, the founder and chairman of the mutual fund firm Strong Capital Management. Over at the Putnam funds, shareholders have been pulling out their money ever since news of the mutual fund trading scandal broke two weeks ago. As Scott Gurvey reports, some of the money now leaving traditional mutual funds is going into ETFs or exchange-traded funds.

SCOTT GURVEY, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: They trade like a stock, pay dividends like a stock and are priced with every trade. They are exchange-traded funds or ETFs. Now that some mutual funds stand accused of giving preferential treatment to some big investors at the expense of others, ETFs are drawing new attention: SPDRs, representing the Standard & Poor`s 500; Diamonds, representing the Dow Jones Industrials; and Cubes, representing the NASDAQ 100, are the best known ETFs. Their closing prices are reported each night here on NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT. All were created at the American Stock Exchange: SPDRs in 1993; Diamonds in `98; Cubes in `99.

CLIFF WEBER, SR. V.P., AMEX EXCHANGE ETF MARKETPLACE: Exchange-traded funds have been growing in popularity for years. Currently there are about $127 billion invested in exchange-traded funds and they trade 150 million shares a day.

GURVEY: The ETFs offer the same basic feature as an Index fund: broad diversification. They let you bet on market moves without the risk of picking individual stocks. Unlike mutual funds, which trade once per day at a price computed by the fund company, ETFs trade continuously and the market sets the price. ETFs can be shorted and bought on margin. You can also place stop and limit orders for ETFs. While you do have to pay brokerage commissions on each trade, the costs overall are about the same as those associated with the index funds. Until now the ETFs have not been an investment of interest to many individuals and some advisors believe they are not the best choice.

JOEL ISAACSON, FINANCIAL PLANNER: There are great money managers that are out there that are honest, that have done a great job for clients, reasonable expenses and have outperformed the market over long period of time. And we do believe in active management as part of a person`s portfolio, especially in things like 401(k) and IRAs where taxes are not an issue.

GURVEY: As ETFs have grown in popularity, many more have been introduced including some which focus on specific business sectors and others which concentrate on geographical regions. 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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

11/11/03: "Inovation Island-"Part 2: The WiFi Connection

SUSIE GHARIB: If you`ve been to a Starbucks (SBUX) or a McDonald`s (MCD) recently, you`ve probably seen people using laptop computers to connect, wirelessly, to the Internet. Wi-Fi use is booming around the world. And for the economy of Taiwan, it has become a growth industry. As we continue our series "Innovation Island," our Washington bureau chief Darren Gersh looks at how some of Taiwan`s hopes are riding on the wireless Web.

GERSH: You`re looking at what many consider the next killer app. No, not Lara Croft, it`s the wireless technology beaming her DVD image from one notebook computer to another.

NORMAN HUNG, PRESIDENT, ZYDAS: Over the air, we`re using this notebook to receive the signal and to replay on the screen.

GERSH: For Taiwanese entrepreneurs like Norman Hung, Wi-Fi is hot. Eighty percent of the world`s wireless networking equipment is made in Taiwan, and Hung wants to make those networks work better. As president of ZyDas, Hung has pushed the company to design a more efficient version of the basic Wi-Fi chip, increasing data transmission by 40 percent, without using more power or cutting the receiving range. Hung says that kind of innovation is critical to Taiwan`s continued high-tech success.

HUNG: If everything is the same, you cannot differentiate yourself to others` companies, especially when Chinese company is growing up, they probably have a better cost structure than us. So we need to move up for the innovations.

GERSH: Traditionally, Taiwan has played the role of "fast follower" in the global IT industry, working with tech leaders in the U.S., seizing on new industry standards, and moving fast to bring down costs. But Hung believes it`s time entrepreneurs here think more strategically. His company is working on data coding technology and other innovations that could one day help improve on the existing 11G industry standard for Wi-Fi.

HUNG: So when our chip is more and more in the market, then we have stronger muscle to launch our new standards.

GERSH: So this will be a better than 11G?

HUNG: That`s right.

GERSH: You`re taking on Broadcom (BRCM) and the big players.

HUNG: We hope so.

GERSH: Wi-Fi is already a $2 billion business, but many think the technology is reaching critical mass and will soon break out beyond local hot spots. The real payoff may come as TVs, PCs, DVDs, mp3s and video games all go Wi-Fi. The idea is called convergence, with one wireless home gateway connecting everything. Tech executive Michael Chang thinks Taiwan could lead the way.

MICHAEL CHANG, CHMN., RAYCOMM MICROWAVE TECHNOLOGIES: I think Taiwan will start generating a new trend global-wide: low cost solution, portable devices, home appliances integrating Wi-Fi solution. And I think Taiwan can contribute to a global movement towards a home gateway.

GERSH: Wi-Fi is all around us here in Taiwan, beamed about from office buildings to coffee shops and restaurants, but while Wi-Fi use is growing, Wi-Fi profits are running into static. So many Taiwanese companies have rushed into the market, the competition has cut the price of a basic Wi-Fi chip in half. And analysts caution convergence is still too expensive and likely to take longer than many think. But that hasn`t stopped entrepreneurs here from putting Wi-Fi in everything from home servers to LCD TVs.

CHANG: We believe right now that if Taiwan goes into the right direction and if all these corporates are moving towards the right direction and if there is adequate funding, which there is at the moment, that Wi-Fi could be another PC industry for Taiwan.

GERSH: And if entrepreneurs like Norman Hung have their way, Wi-Fi will not only be made in Taiwan, but much of the technology will be designed in Taiwan as well. Darren Gersh, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Hsinchu, Taiwan.

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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

11/11/03: Commentary: Economic Growth & The Jobs Recovery

SUSIE GHARIB: In tonight`s commentary, economic growth and the jobs recovery. Here`s Charles Schultze, senior fellow emeritus of the Economics Study Program at the Brookings Institution.

CHARLES SCHULTZE, COMMENTARY: Last quarter the U.S. economy recorded an exceedingly strong GDP growth rate of 7 percent. Amazingly, business employment and payrolls rose very little, which, by the way, means that profit growth must have been excellent. What`s now in store for the economy? Well, with business investment finally beginning to take off, the chances for sustained healthy recovery have markedly improved. Consumer spending won`t keep growing at the hectic pace of last quarter, when it got a big one-time boost from tax rebates and lower tax withholding. But it will still continue to rise. Overall, we can expect a less massive, but still robust GDP growth rate in the neighborhood of 4 percent over the next year. And as employers become convinced that faster growth is here to stay, hiring will pick up. Already, in each months of September and October, 125,000 jobs were added to payrolls, the best gain in almost three years. But given the rate at which the labor force is growing, still larger payroll additions will be needed to make a real dent in unemployment. Since we don`t know how much of the recent surprisingly strong rise in output-per-worker will continue, it`s hard to predict how much employment will be created from the economic growth that`s now under way. My best, and highly uncertain forecast, is that unemployment will start falling sometime after the turn of the year, but only slowly. I`m Charles Schultze.

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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

11/11/03: "Paul Kangas' Stocks In The News"

PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street moved lower for the third straight session early today despite that firmness in the retail sector. After a half hour the Dow was down 22 points while the NASDAQ Index fell 11 points. The market continued to churn about in modestly lower ground on relatively light trading volume because of the Veterans` Day holiday which had most banks and the bond market closed. At mid-session, the Dow was off 25 points, the NASDAQ Index posted a 15-point loss. The absence of many traders and caution ahead of reports on weekly jobless benefit claims, producer prices and consumer sentiment later in the week kept stocks on the defensive. The Dow Industrial Average went on to close with a loss of 18.75 points at 9737.79. The NASDAQ Composite ended with a loss of almost 11 points at 1930.75. The Standard & Poor`s 500 Index fell just a little over a half a point to 1046.57.

Topping the active list on the New York Exchange, trading 23.3 million shares, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) down $0.15. Philips Electronics (PHG), the big Dutch conglomerate, is in the process of selling a 2.4 percent stake in Taiwan, which will cut its holdings in the firm to 19.1 percent.

Lucent Technologies (LU), a $0.04 loss.

Mylan Laboratories (MYL) dropped $1.55. UBS Financial downgraded the stock from buy to neutral, citing the possibility that the company`s lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) regarding a Duragesic patch may be in jeopardy. Late in the day, Mylan criticized UBS for commenting on a lawsuit in progress and said, its analysis was irresponsible and incomplete anyway.

Motorola (MOT) down $0.14.

And General Electric (GE) dropped $0.06, number five in big board volume.

Citigroup (C) fell $0.56.

Micron Technology (MU) losing $0.21.

AT&T Wireless (AWE) dropped $0.03.

Pfizer (PFE) moved up $0.32.

And SBC Communications (SBC), a $0.04 gain, tenth in big board volume.

ExxonMobil (XOM), a member of the Dow Industrial Average up $0.29. Goldman Sachs upgraded it from in-line to outperform.

Oakley (OO), one of the retailers that did very well today, up $1.83, Merrill Lynch upgraded it from hold to buy. And Merrill Lynch also upgraded hold to buy a number of other retail stocks, including Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) up $0.97 after the close. Abercrombie reported third-quarter earnings $0.51 up from $0.48 last year, that was in-line. Also good gains by BJ`s Wholesale (BJ), Neiman-Marcus (NMGa), and Tiffany (TIF) as well as Zale`s (ZLC). Nice move there.

Too Incorporated (TOO), this is a young girl`s apparel retailer, not only did Merrill Lynch repeat a buy recommendation on it, but the Harris Nesbitt brokerage upgraded it from neutral to outperform.

Marriott International (MAR) moving up $1.19. The company sees a compounded earnings growth rate of 17 to 22 percent through the year 2006. It also plans to market rooms directly to the public.

CSX (CSX), the big rail, up $0.16, but it traded as high as $34.90 early in the day after Merrill Lynch upgraded it from neutral to buy.

One of the bigger losers, International Power (IPR), down $2.33. The British power-generating firm said depressed U.S. power prices could cut its 2004 earnings by some 25 percent below Wall Street estimates.

Oceaneering International (OII) down $1.32. Third-quarter earnings lower, $0.37 versus last year`s $0.48. The company cut its 2004 earnings estimate to about $1.40 from around $1.68 citing a slowdown in offshore in oil service activity. Also the Robert Baird brokerage downgraded it from outperform to neutral.

And then Univision (UVN) dropped $1.22 after the S.G. Cowen brokerage downgraded it from outperform to market perform.

Microsoft (MSFT) topped the active list on NASDAQ, losing $0.20.

Followed by EchoStar Communications (DISH), down $4.75. The company came in with $0.07 in earnings in the third quarter versus a loss of $0.35 last year. But that was much lower than the Wall Street estimate of earnings of $0.16. Also, analysts were disappointed in the company`s subscriber growth.

Intel (INTC), a $0.02 gain there.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) up $0.16.

Applied Materials (AMAT) gained $0.49, number five in NASDAQ volume.

Dell (DELL), an $0.08 gain there.

Amgen (AMGN), down $0.16.

Amazon.com (AMZN) moved up $0.25.

eBay (EBAY), a $0.59 loss.

Tenth in volume, InterActiveCorp (IACI), down $0.31 a share.

Oracle Corporation (ORCL), a $0.03 loss there. "The Wall Street Journal" today said PeopleSoft`s (PSFT) refund program may force Oracle to abandon its takeover attempt of PeopleSoft.

And then a big loser, Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX), plunging $4.65, almost a 37 percent drop. First the company had a third-quarter loss of $1.12, much bigger than last year`s $0.44-loss. And on top of that, clinical trials of the company`s rheumatoid arthritis drug have been halted due to adverse liver reactions.

And another big loser was Immunomedics (IMMU), plunging $3.87, 54 percent of its value. Amgen is going to seek a different partner to develop a non-Hodgkin`s lymphoma drug.

And then over on the American Exchange, Columbia Laboratories (COB) fell $1.41, or 15 percent, after the Wells Fargo brokerage downgraded it from buy to hold.

And those are the "Stocks in the News" tonight.

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. Copyright (c) 2003 Community Television Foundation of South Florida, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Terms of use.

11/11/03: Market Stats

			     
                   
                                      NET    PERCENT
                         CLOSE     CHANGE     CHANGE
DOW CLOSE              9737.79     -18.74       - .2
HIGH                                         9761.20
LOW                                          9719.05

NASDAQ COMP.           1930.75     -10.89        -.6
HIGH                                         1944.01
LOW                                          1923.50

VOLUME                                       1,151.8
PREVIOUS                                     1,224.7
UP VOLUME                                      426.5
DOWN VOLUME                                    710.0

DOW TRANSPORTS         2927.24     -26.01       - .9
DOW UTILITIES           250.01       -.04       - .0
CLOSING TICK                                    +717

S&P 500                1046.57       -.54       - .1
S&P 100                 518.66       -.11       - .0
MIDCAP 400              551.55      -1.42       - .3
REUTERS/CRB             251.60       +.89       + .4

NYSE COMPOSITE         5941.20      -9.48       - .2
VALUE LINE              342.23      -1.65      -0.48
RUSSELL 2000            528.57      -4.64      -0.87
WILSHIRE 5000         10194.56     -20.38       -0.2

U.S. TREASURIES
5-YEAR NOTE 3.125%
Oct. 15,2008          98 17/32     CLOSED       3.45

10-YEAR NOTE 4.25%
Aug. 15,2013          98 15/32     CLOSED       4.44

30-YEAR NOTE 5.375%
Feb. 15, 2031        101 17/32     CLOSED       5.27

LEHMAN BROS.
LONG BOND INDEX        1692.87     CLOSED


DOW CLOSE              9737.79     -18.74       - .2
ADVANCES                                        1308
DECLINES                                        1916
NEW HIGHS                                        102
NEW LOWS                                          16

                                      NET    PERCENT
NYSE MOST ACTIVES    4PM CLOSE     CHANGE     CHANGE
TSM    Taiwan Semi       10.62       -.15       -1.4
LU     Lucent Tech        3.27       -.04       -1.2
MYL    Mylan Labs        22.45      -1.55       -6.5
MOT    Motorola          13.34       -.14       -1.0
GE     GE                28.11       -.06        -.2
C      Citigroup         47.39       -.56       -1.2
MU     Micron Tech       13.24       -.21       -1.6
AWE    AT&T Wireless      6.92       -.03        -.4
PFE    Pfizer            31.80       +.32       +1.0
SBC    SBC Comms         23.54       +.04        +.2

NASDAQ CLOSE           1930.75    - 10.89       - .6
VOLUME                                       1,644.0
PREVIOUS                                     1,757.2
ADVANCES                                        1104
DECLINES                                        2044

NASDAQ ACTIVES
MSFT   Microsoft         25.80       -.20        -.8
DISH   Echostar Comm     32.05      -4.75      -12.9
INTC   Intel             33.41       +.02        +.1
CSCO   Cisco Systems     22.35       +.16        +.7
AMAT   Applied Matl      24.90       +.49       +2.0
DELL   Dell Inc          35.01       +.08        +.2
AMGN   Amgen             58.98       -.16        -.3
AMZN   Amazon.com        52.23       +.25        +.5
EBAY   eBay              54.13       -.59       -1.1
IACI   InterActiveCorp   33.39       -.31        -.9

AMEX CLOSE             1062.08     - 3.65       - .3

INDEX SHARES
DIA    DIAMONDS TRUST    97.62       -.19        -.2
QQQ    NASDAQ 100        35.04       -.15        -.4
SPY    S&P DEP.RECEIPTS 105.15       -.03        -.0

STOCKS IN THE NEWS
XOM    Exxon Mobil       36.05       +.29        +.8
OO     Oakley            12.75      +1.83      +16.8
ANF    Abercrombie & Fit 28.83       +.97       +3.5
BJ     BJ's Wholesale    27.03      +1.13       +4.4
NMGa   Neiman Marcus     51.74      +1.07       +2.1
TIF    Tiffany & Co      48.72      +1.52       +3.2
ZLC    Zale              55.14      +1.89       +3.6
TOO    Too Inc           19.50      +1.20       +6.6
MAR    Marriott Intl     46.50      +1.19       +2.6
CSX    CSX Corp          33.51       +.16        +.5
IPR    Intl Power Plc    19.40      -2.33      -10.7
OII    Oceaneering Intl  22.71      -1.32       -5.5
UVN    Univision Comm    32.56      -1.22       -3.6
ORCL   Oracle            12.54       -.03        -.2
VRTX   Vertex Pharm       8.00      -4.65      -36.8
IMMU   Immunomedics       3.38      -3.87      -53.4
COB    Columbia Labs      7.95      -1.40      -15.0