Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 19

Apr 6 2006 E-mail: Phone: 412-263-1567 Web: www.post-gazette.com/businessnews Editor: Steve Massey Questions about delivery or service? Call 1-800-228-NEWS (6397). PG ON WHEELS PAGE C-2 MONEY MARKETPLACE PAGE C-3 MUTUAL FUNDS PAGE C-4 OBITUARIES PAGE C-5 INSIDE Business COMPANIES, CONSUMERS, MONEY, TECHNOLOGY, WORK THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2006 Section State court shows its heart Commonwealth Court ruled yesterday that small rural hos- pitalscould continue to perform angioplasty heart procedures for 45 more days.Because those hospitals lack the capability to perform open heart surgery, they are currently barred by state law from performing angioplasties. Under a pilot program, the hospitals have been performing angioplasties for three years, and sued the state to continue doing so. A bill that would allow small hospitals including Monongahela Valley in Washington County and Uniontown in Fayette County to perform angioplasties has passed the Pennsylvania House and is pending in the Senate. Eagle posts another sales gain Teen retailer American Eagle Outfitters Inc.

said knits, shorts and jeans sold well in March with sales in existing stores up 3 percent for the month. Total sales rose 9 percent to $201.6 million, up from $185.4 million for the same period last year. The company said a late Easter has shifted sales out of the last week of the month. The company reiterated earlier first-quarter earnings guidance of between 36 cents and 38 cents per share. Taiwan firm picks Penthera Strip District-based Penthera Technologies said it had landed another customer, Taiwan- based High Tech Computer a manufacturer of mobile computers and communication devices.

products will carry software, which will provide access to the DVB-H mobile television spectrum that Houston-based Crown Castle Inc. said it would launch this year. EEOC sues trucking firm The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against Pitt-Ohio Express, charging that the company refused to hire women as truck drivers and dockworkers at its Ohio terminals because of their gender. The suit, filed in U.S.

District Court in Cleveland, claims that women were denied employment in those positions while men were not. The Strip District-based company said in a statement that it been attempting to bring this matter to resolution since 2000 and has been cooperating fully with the EEOC for the past 6 It also said it did not or tolerate any unlawful Also in business Fitch raised the rating outlook on University of Pittsburgh Medical Center debt to positive from stable. Fitch said the upgrade reflects continued profit growth and belief that operating margins will be maintained David W. Curtis, executive vice president of Leon N. Weiner Associates a Wilmington, home builder and developer, has been elected to the board of directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh business briefs DOW JONES 500 NASDAQ daily ticker 2,359.75 1,311.56 11,239.55 Tracks stock prices of 65 local publicly traded companies 298.96 PM BUSINESS REPORT Breaking news every weekday after the markets close at www.post-gazette.com HE SAYS, Vanguard chief dismisses long-term bear market talk TO BEAR $0 $2,000 $4,000 $6,000 $8,000 $10,000 1980 $134.8 $370.7 $809.4 $1,642.5 $3,525.8 $6,964.7 $8,106.9 198419881992199620002004 MUTUALFUNDASSETS MutualfundsintheU.S., 1980-2004 5.7% 11.9% 24.4% 37.2% 48.1% 1980198419881992199620002004 U.S.HOUSEHOLDOWNERSHIP OFMUTUALFUNDS New Apple program lets its computers run Windows By Bob Keefe Cox News Service In a move with major implications for personal computing, Apple Computer Inc.

released new software yesterday that lets users of its newest computers run Microsoft dominant Windows XP operating system. The release of a trial version of the software, called Boot Camp, is a historic shift for Apple, which has long criticized Microsoft products as inferior. is a potentially market- changing said longtime technology industry analyst Rob Enderle. sense is that this is going to increase market share Wall Street apparently agrees. stock, which has sagged in recent weeks, soared $6.04, or almost 10 percent, to $67.21.

Apple said in announcing Boot Camp that it would not sell Windows, nor would it provide technical support for users of Windows on Mac machines. And to make it work, users must have new Macs with Intel Corp. processors, must download the Boot Camp software and also must purchase an unused version of Windows XP an additional cost of $100 or more. But the Boot Camp program will be integrated into the next version of operating software, called Leopard, which will be unveiled later this year. think Boot Camp makes the Mac even more appealing to Windows users considering making the Apple senior vice president Philip Schiller said in a statement.

Microsoft officials did not return a call seeking comment. move is just the latest step in recent march to become more main- stream with its PC business and boost its minuscule 3 percent market share. In January, Apple for the first time began shipping computers with Intel processors, the same type that runs the vast majority of all computers not made by Apple. SEE APPLE, PAGE C-8 THE VANGUARD GROUP Headquarters: Valley Forge, Pa. Founded: May 1, 1975 First fund: Wellington Fund (inception date: July 1, 1929) Number of funds: 130 domestic funds (including variable annuity portfolios); 40 additional funds in international markets Largest fund: Vanguard 500 Index Fund: $109 billion Total assets: $980 billion Number of employees: More than 11,500 U.S.-based By Patricia Sabatini Pittsburgh Post-Gazette I 401(k) and IRA are part of your vocabulary, chances are heard of low-cost mutual fund giant Vanguard Group, the index fund pioneer and second-largest mutual fund company.

Since taking the helm from legendary founder John Bogle 10 years ago, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John J. Brennan has seen the Valley Forge, company grow from roughly $200 billion in assets under management to nearly a staggering $1 trillion. During a stop in Pittsburgh yesterday to talk about business ethics at the Duquesne Club, Mr. Brennan, 51, a Boston native and graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School, shared his views on the stock market, mutual fund industry, economy and what it takes to become a success. Many people think that in 2000, we entered a secular bear market, a long-term period lasting 15 to 25 years during which stocks decline or change little in value.

The last secular bear was from 1966 to 1982, followed by a long-term cycle of gains from 1983-2000. Do you think we are in the early stages of a secular bear? I think so. If you look back over the six years since the bubble began to burst in 2000, the market is back about even over that period. But what you need to look at are long-term returns. Success or failure in the stock market is not determined in a week, a month, a year.

determined really in a lifetime of investing. What was obvious in the end of the 1990s is that stock returns would revert to a much more normalized looking average. If you go out now and look at 10-year results or 20-year results on the stock market, about where we should be. about normal. We went through a wrenching bear market, we recovered nicely.

Companies are doing really well from a profitability standpoint, and in the end, that is going to determine success or failure in the stock market. So predictions of a long secular bear market we would say are wrong. SEE VANGUARD, PAGE C-6 Nova a victim of that could go By Joyce Gannon Pittsburgh Post-Gazette A plant shutdown in Ontario, tornadoes in Alberta and volatile energy prices were among the reasons 2005 was a heartbreaking for Nova Chemicals its president and chief executive officer said. Addressing shareholders and employees yesterday at annual meeting at its U.S. operations center in Moon, Jeffrey Lipton said that last year, about everything that could go wrong did just Nova reported a net loss for the year of $104 million, or $1.26 per diluted share, compared with 2004 net income of $252 million, or $2.71.

SEE NOVA, PAGE C-8 Wi-Fi network closer to reality By Corilyn Shropshire Pittsburgh Post-Gazette A Downtown wireless Internet network is closer to reality, the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership confirmed yesterday. Chief Executive Officer Michael Edwards said the group was close to signing a deal with Louisville, US Wireless Online to build and operate a Wi-Fi network across the Golden Triangle. US Wireless Online established a local presence last year when it purchased Carnegie-based YYireless1.net., which was run by Timothy Pisula, who has been at the forefront of local discussions about deploying a municipal Wi-Fi network. Mr. Pisula, who now serves as an executive at US Wireless Online, had no comment on the deal.

There are several details to be ironed out before the Wi-Fi network is up and running, chief among them the $525,000 the advocacy group Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership has asked nine local foundations to supply to help build the network. The Downtown Partnership and US Wireless Online also have to decide what services will be available on the Wi-Fi network and the cost to users. idea is two hours of free Internet Mr. Edwards said, but other amenities, such as security, higher speeds or more bandwidth still were up in the air. The Downtown Partnership also has to secure permission from the city to use such as lamp poles and other infrastructure to hold network equipment.

Jay News John J. Brennan, chairman and chief executive officer of Vanguard Group SEE WI-FI, PAGE C-8.