NEW YORK (AP) -- It hasn't taken John Thain long to put his stamp on the world's largest brokerage. After being named chairman and chief executive of Merrill Lynch & Co. just three weeks ago, Thain on Monday secured a capital infusion worth up to $6.2 billion and sold off one of Merrill's lending units. His fast action came at a critical time; some analysts think Merrill is facing credit-related writedowns of $10 billion for the fourth quarter.

This exchange traded fund tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index, made up of the 100 largest and most actively traded nonfinancial stocks on the Nasdaq. It's the most actively traded equity security in the world. A rebalancing has led to an uptick in the fund. The rerankings were announced after the close Dec. 14, and the fund saw a pullback of slightly more than 2% on Dec. 17, the next business day. Ever since then, though, the ETF has gained 5%. It has a 19% year-to-date return for 2007.

NEW YORK (AP) -- CME Group Inc.'s stock slipped Monday after a group of banks and trading firms said they plan to launch their own futures exchange to try to garner cheaper commissions. Late Friday, 12 financial institutions including Merrill Lynch & Co., Citigroup Inc., and Bank of America Corp. unveiled a plan for an electronic trading exchange. Initially, the exchange will host trading of futures contracts linked to U.S. Treasury bonds and then branch into new products later next year.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Delayed holiday flights, a bankruptcy filing by a business-class airline and a downbeat outlook for the biggest U.S. carrier weren't enough to keep investors away from airline shares, which rose Monday as oil prices fell.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Semiconductor stocks rose Monday, helped by an analyst report indicating the microchip market should grow in the first quarter of 2008. Wachovia Capital Markets analyst David Wong said in a note to investors that he expects worldwide microchip shipments in the coming weeks to reflect continued single-digit growth. He also said weakness in memory chip pricing will be offset by growth in other segments. Concerns about falling prices led shares of leading memory chip companies to fall last week.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Solar stocks rallied Monday as investors shook off concerns about high polysilicon costs squeezing profit margins. Many stocks within the sector declined last week after LDK Solar Co. reported surging prices for polysilicon, a key manufacturing material, cut into the company's third-quarter profit margins. Monday was a half-day of trading before the Christmas holiday.

When it comes to delivering packages, many people have a preference for either FedEx (NYSE:FDX - News) or United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS - News). But increasingly, when it comes to delivering above market returns on stocks, investors are likely to be pleased regardless of which company they choose to invest in.

IBD's Earnings Stability Rating lets you see at a glance how steady a company's earnings have been. It assigns a rating from 1 to 99 to companies based on the consistency of their earnings, with 1 being the most stable and 99 the least stable.

Just when you thought Bob Rodriguez couldn't get any gloomier, the highly regarded value investor has become even more downbeat. Rodriguez, the hugely successful manager of FPA Capital (NASDAQ:FPPTX - News) and FPA New Income (NASDAQ:FPNIX - News), recently announced he put a halt to purchases of stocks and high-yield bonds at both portfolios on Dec. 14. His decision is a reaction to the subprime mortgage-induced credit crunch, which he expects to worsen in coming months. Rodriguez says he'll review his actions weekly, but he doesn't anticipate any change in course until February or March 2008.

PowerRatings make it easy for investors to stay out of the bad areas, the industries that are likely to underperform both the market and the average industry going forward. By looking to see which industries have low, "in the red" PowerRatings of 1, 2, or 3 -- and rarely if ever buying stocks from those low-rated industry groups -- investors can save themselves from both a great deal of grief and a poorly performing portfolio.