The American way says quantity is more important than quality, except when it come to stock rallies. Around the middle of October when the odds favored an end to the short term downtrend, I said it would be especially important to gage the quality of the next advance. Specifically we need to determine whether or not this rally is anything more than the last move up in a larger topping pattern for US stocks or the beginning of a more sustained uptrend that pushes prices higher into spring of 2006. Since many indexes and sectors are now retesting the July/ August highs of 2005 and we are now 3-4 weeks into our rally, this would be an excellent moment for a check up. Say aaahhhh

You can help your children financially in many ways, even after they are well into their adult years—and most of those ways don’t involve giving them money.