Newsday from New York, New York • 45

BUSINESS A45 MARKETS Earnings, Iraq News Boost Stocks COMBINED NEWS REPORTS Stocks rose yesterday following Texas Instruments' solid earnings report late Monday and news that Saddam Hussein's two sons were killed, which traders said soothed fears the United States could be stuck in a quagmire in Iraq. "The market is celebrating a bit," said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies explaining that "one of the major pieces of background noise the was the disappointment that we don't have clear evidence of weapons of mass destruction or clear evidence that we have Saddam Hussein or any of his direct relatives." After losing as much as 59.39 in early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 61.76, or 0.7 percent, at 9,158.45. On Monday, the Dow shed 91.46 points on disappointing earnings from Merck and Lexmark International. The broader market, narrowly high- CITY INC. er in earlier dealings, increased its advance.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 24.69, or 1.5 percent, to 1,706.10. The Standard Poor's 500 index advanced 9.31, or 1 percent, to 988.11. Still, analysts don't expect the news from Iraq to have a lasting effect on Wall Street because investors' primary focus remains second-quarter earnings. For the past two weeks Wall Street has been alternating between rallies and sell-offs as most companies reported better-than-expected earnings but failed to raise their estimates for the third and fourth quarters. Investors are questioning whether stocks, which had rallied since mid-March, had climbed too high too fast.

Since March 11, when the market hit lows for the year, the Nasdaq has climbed 34.2 percent, the Dow has gained 21.7 percent and the has advanced 23.4 percent. Analysts say many stocks are now priced at a premi- um, particularly given the fact that second-quarter earnings haven't impressed investors the way first-quarter results did. "Now the focus is almost exclusively on the earnings coming out, whereas before there were some bargains to be had and you could ride that," said Kevin Gaughan, portfolio manager and equity strategist at Strong Financial Corp. in Milwaukee. Chip makers and chip equipment makers gave tech stocks a boost, following Texas Instruments earnings report and a string of upgrades within the sectors from Lehman Brothers.

U.S. Treasuries rose as a month-long rout that brought 10-year note yields to their highest level since December buoyed the appeal of government debt. "There are definitely reasons to buy" after the "bloodbath" of the past four weeks, said Andrew Roberts, Londonbased bond strategist at Merrill Lynch. Red Lobster Lands in Times Square Red Lobster, struggling to boost business at its hundreds of eateries, opened its newest restaurant yesterday in Times Square. The three-story eatery, which includes two 420-gallon fish tanks, a 10-foot revolving neon lobster and seaside decor, is located at 5 Times Square, the Ernst Young Building.

The restaurant is the third Red Lobster that the Orlando-based unit of Darden Restaurants Inc. has opened this year in New York City. In February, Red Lobster opened a restaurant in the Queens Place mall in Elmhurst and in March one in Gateway Plaza in the East New York section of Brooklyn. A unit is planned for the Bronx next year. "New York is one of our most important markets," Red Lobster's president, Edna Morris, said.

"We view the boroughs of the city as key expansion areas for Darden's Olive Garden in Times Square is a three-floor restaurant that opened in the mid-1990s and is that chain's highest-grossing. In the fiscal year ended May 25, sales at Red Lobster restaurants open at least a year rose 2.7 percent, due to menu changes and price increases, but customer traffic declined. Alan J. Wax JetBlue Promotes Execs, Adds VP Post One month after announcing the purchase of 100 new planes, JetBlue has bolstered its management staff by creating three senior vice president positions and naming a new vice president of inflight experience. Tom Anderson has been promoted to For more local business news, log on to www.newsday.

MARKET STATS MARKET INDEXES YTD Cis Chg. Dow Jones 9,158.45 Nasdaq Composite 1,706.10 500 988.11 Russell 2000 464.00 DIARY NYSE Amex Nasdaq Advanced 1,867 425 2,073 Declined 1,393 379 1,078 Unchanged 154 83 468 New highs 73 25 121 New lows 30 4 5 MONEY AND METALS Prime rate 4.00% 10-yr Tnote yield 4.13% $349.70 Crude (West Texas) $30.18 FOREIGN EXCHANGE Currency Dollars in dollars in currency Britain (Pound) 1.5926 .6279 Canada (Dollar) .7064 1.4157 Euro (Euro) 1.1336 .8821 Japan (Yen) .008399 119.06 ON THE MOVE senior vice president of technical operations and aircraft programs, Tim Claydon is senior vice president of sales and business development, and Al Spain is senior vice president of operations. The vice president of inflight experience is 30-year Delta Air Lines veteran Vicky Stennes. Anderson and Spain joined JetBlue in 1999. Anderson, formerly director of corporate planning, oversee JetBlue's technical operations, LiveTV business and aircraft programs.

Spain, formerly vice president of operations, will be in charge of flight and systems operations and JetBlue University, the in-house training program. Claydon, who managed Web-booking strategies when he started in 2001, will oversee sales and marketing, revenue management and information technology departments. Quincy M. Gibbs Stewart's Trial Likely To Hurt Her Business Martha Stewart's customers are losing some of their appetite for her home-decorating products as her trial on obstruction-of-justice charges draws nearer. In a survey of 1,000 consumers by America's Research Group, 28.6 percent said they were less likely to buy Martha Stewart-brand products since the lifestyle trendsetter was indicted June 4 on charges she interfered with a probe into her ImClone Systems Inc.

stock sale. A year earlier, after news of the ImClone scandal broke, just 17.8 percent of those polled said they'd shy away from her products. The new poll bolstered expectations that Stewart's brand would suffer from its close identification with her persona. The poll, released yesterday and conducted this month, had a 4.3 percent margin of error. In June, Stewart pleaded not guilty to the charges.

She has stepped down as chairman and chief executive of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. and awaits her January trial. Martha Stewart Living and Kmart representatives were not available for comment on the poll. Reuters Colgate-Palmolive's Earnings Up Colgate-Palmolive the Manhattan-based maker of products ranging from soap to dog food, yesterday said profit rose 10 percent in the second quarter as new products and the weaker dollar helped boost sales. The improved results continued a trend for the maker of Colgate toothpaste, Hill's Science Diet pet food and a host of other products, helping the company post some of the steadiest earnings growth in the sector in recent years.

Colgate has been helped by a pipeline of new products, including Simply White tooth-whitening gel. Higher sales and margins have allowed the company to increase advertising. "They're just introducing a lot of new CITY STOCKS The Newsday Bloomberg New York index 165 157.87 160 155 150 145 WTF MT Jan. 1, Executive Vice President, FleetBoston FleetBoston Financial Corp. in Manhattan has named Leo Gonzalez executive vice president and head of retail operations for the metropolitan area.

He will be responsible for sales management, operations and training for all employees. Gonzalez previously was senior vice president and head of branch operations for Laredo National Bank in Texas before joining Fleet. Quincy M. Gibbs products," said Joseph Altobello, analyst at CIBC World Markets. "Simply White is still helping them out.

And overseas they continue to take share." The company met analyst expectations by posting second-quarter profit of $359.8 million, or 62 cents a share, compared with $327 million, or 55 cents a share, a year earlier. Reuters STOCK WATCH How New York's 10 largest stocks, terday. based on market value, fared yes- 'AVOSMEN Close Change Pfizer 32.43 Citigrp 45.45 AmintGp 60.58 VerizonCm 35.67 Altria 40.28 AOL Viacom TW 42.50 16.85 A700 JPMorgCh 34.94 AmExp 44.77 BrMySq 26.26 2003 a.