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Stocks fell sharply on Wall Street Monday. 

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 159.87 points to close at
7858.24. The Nasdaq composite index was down 26.64 to 1322.38, and the
S&P 500 fell 15.59 to 832.58. Declines led advances, 2111-974, on the
New York Stock Exchange in volume of 1,199,947,000 shares. On Nasdaq,
declines led advances, 2151-1029.

Bonds were higher, the 10-year note yield falling to 3.845% from 3.89%
late Friday.

(AP) "It's continuing concerns about Iraq and that Iraq will fail to
comply with a U.N. order to destroy missiles," said Alan Skrainka,
chief market strategist at Edward Jones of St. Louis. "Retailers are
weak given the lack of confidence among consumers and investors."

The Index of Investor Optimism, a joint effort of UBS and the Gallup
Organization, fell to an all-time low of 9 in February (through
February 16), UBS said Monday. The index had a baseline of 124 when it
was established in 1996, and peaked at 178 in January 2000.

(AP) Royal Ahold (NYSE-AHO), -$6.53 to $4.16, said Monday it
overstated earnings in 2001 and 2002 by at least $500 million and its
leading executives will resign, raising fresh fears over corporate
accounting methods. The Netherlands-based company generates more than
half its sales in the United States, where it owns regional chains
Stop & Shop, Giant-Landover, Giant-Carlisle, Tops, BI-LO and Bruno's.

ING Group (NYSE-ING), -$1.32 to $13.81, and Aegon NV (NYSE-AEG),
-$1.14 to $11.30, each own more than 5% of Royal Ahold, CBS
MarketWatch.com reported.

The Dow open, theoretical intraday high and low: 8017.34; 8009.15;
7827.98.

VaxGen (NASDAQ-VXGN), -$6.16 to $6.86, plummeted after a trading halt
was lifted. The company said Phase III trials of its Aidsvax did not
show a statistically significant reduction of HIV infection within the
study population as a whole, which was the primary endpoint of the
trial.

Ocean Energy (NYSE-OEI), +$0.73 to $20.00, agreed to merge with Devon
Energy (AMEX-DVN), +$0.07 to $48.30. Ocean shareholders will receive
0.414 shares of Devon for each Ocean share.

Natural gas futures soared on fears that the cold snap across much of
the country could lead to shortages. March futures climbed $2.53 per
mmBtu to $9.13, while April futures gained $1.30 to $7.62 and May
futures added 89 cents to $6.84.

Advancing stocks with large natural gas holdings included Anadarko
Petroleum (NYSE-APC), +$1.08 to $46.76, Burlington Resources
(NYSE-BR), +$1.07 to $47.07, and Pogo Producing (NYSE-PPP), +$0.44 to
$38.90.

(AP) Retailers fell after several reported that severe winter weather
will depress February sales. Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE-WMT), -$1.26 to
$47.64, said February same-store sales might be at the lower end of
its estimates of 2 percent to 4 percent growth. The company cited
severe winter weather in the Northeast during the Presidents Day
weekend.

Other retailers on the downside included Federated Department Stores
(NYSE-FD), -$0.76 to $24.82, and J.C. Penney (NYSE-JCP), -$0.95 to
$19.39.

But Lowe's Cos. (NYSE-LOW), +$2.08 to $38.10, reported fourth-quarter
net income of 40 cents a share, topping First Call estimates of 33
cents. Sales rose 16.5% to $6.12 billion, with same-store sales up
4.1%.

(MktNews) The Commerce Department said Monday that e-commerce sales
rose 28.2% in the fourth quarter of 2002 versus the same period of
2001, and 29.3% sequentially. e-commerce sales accounted for 1.6% of
total sales in the fourth quarter, up from 1.3% sequentially as well
as 1.3% in the year-ago quarter.

Among e-tailers, Amazon.com (NASDAQ-AMZN) was unchanged at $21.78. 

Overstock.com (NASDAQ-OSTK), +$1.55 to $18.11, said it will offer a
40% discount on Grammy-winning albums for a week.

Creo (NASDAQ-CREO), -$0.17 to $6.45, made a hostile bid Friday to
acquire all of the outstanding shares of Printcafe Software
(NASDAQ-PCAF), +$0.84 to $3.24, not owned by Creo for $3 per share,
payable in Creo stock. Printcafe had previously received an offer of
$2.60 per share from EFI.

(AP) Massey Energy (NYSE-MEE), +$0.73 to $9.43, rallied after its
Martin County Coal subsidiary settled a lawsuit last week with
hundreds of eastern Kentucky residents whose property was damaged by a
coal sludge spill two years ago.

Wabash National (NYSE-WNC), -$0.96 to $5.50, lost 46 cents a share in
the fourth quarter, wider than the 26-cent per share loss expected by
analysts surveyed by First Call. The truck trailer designer said it
does not expect to meet 2003 financial covenants, but hopes to
successfully complete discussions with lenders prior to filing Form
10-K due March 31.

(AP) Eli Lilly (NYSE-LLY), -$0.81 to $56.67, and 3M (NYSE-MMM), -$1.83
to $125.02, suspended clinical trials of their genital herpes
treatment, resiquimod, because preliminary data showed the drug wasn't
as effective as expected.

USG (NYSE-USG), -$0.63 to $4.03, said the federal district court judge
assigned to USG's bankruptcy case deferred addressing claims alleging
non-malignant asbestos injuries. A procedure for filing cancer claims
was established.

(AP) EntreMed (NASDAQ-ENMD), +$0.14 to $1.09, said a preclinical study
indicated its drug Panzem may prevent and treat osteoporosis.

(AP) Priceline.com (NASDAQ-PCLN), +$0.18 to $1.44, said hotel revenue
so far in the current quarter rose 35% compared to the same period
last year, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

General Electric (NYSE-GE), -$0.38 to $23.42, was featured on the
cover of Barron's in a generally bullish review.

Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ-SUNW), +$0.01 to $3.42, was also mentioned
positively in Barron's ahead of this week's meeting with analysts.

United Rentals (NYSE-URI), -$0.45 to $8.91, reported fourth-quarter
net income of 9 cents a share, excluding charges. Analysts surveyed by
First Call expected 11 cents. Chairman and CEO Bradley Jacobs said,
"We continued to feel the impact of the slowdown in non-residential
construction, which declined 16% in 2002 according to Department of
Commerce data."

The New York Times reported that newly disclosed company documents
indicate that some senior executives at Bayer AG (NYSE-BAY), -$1.71 to
$15.44, were aware that their anticholesterol drug Baycol had serious
problems long before the company pulled it from the market.

Pegasus Communications (NASDAQ-PGTV), -$2.78 to $16.22, said it will
not comment on settlement discussions regarding its lawsuit against
DirecTV, a subsidiary of Hughes Electronics (NYSE-GMH). According to a
Pegasus statement, an employee who said otherwise in a recent news
story was incorrectly quoted.

Chattem (NASDAQ-CHTT), +$0.81 to $14.76, said it demanded and received
a retraction of a false statement issued by Barbary Coast Capital, a
hedge fund which had engaged in the short selling of Chattem common
stock during January. Barbary Coast had told its limited partners that
Chattem "confessed that its growth by acquisition strategy is not
working." Chattem said it has never made such a statement, and
continues to seek to acquire niche over-the-counter drug and toiletry
brands.

(MktNews) Bear Stearns downgraded several trucking companies to "peer
perform" from "outperform." The Broker/Dealer noted that the group of
stocks materially underperformed the broader market at the beginning
of the last Gulf War as oil prices spiked from $23 to $41 per barrel.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ-JBHT), -$2.13 to $24.02, Roadway
(NASDAQ-ROAD), -$2.34 to $30.51, and Yellow (NASDAQ-YELL), -$0.72 to
$22.11, all declined in response.

(MktNews) Oracle (NASDAQ-ORCL), -$0.57 to $11.82, declined even though
the company's CFO said revenues this quarter are rising and he sees
signs of a tech turnaround that has been elusive in recent months.

Stewart Enterprises (NASDAQ-STEI), -$1.19 to $3.60, said it expects to
report first quarter earnings of 9 cents per share, at the low end of
its previously announced guidance of 9-12 cents. For the fiscal year,
the funeral home operator lowered its EPS forecast to 30-35 cents from
40-43 cents.

Optelecom (NASDAQ-OPTC), +$1.35 to $7.16, said fourth-quarter net
income climbed to 23 cents a share from 13 cents a year ago.

IGEN International (NASDAQ-IGEN), -$7.34 to $32.70, said an Appeals
Court in Richmond, Va., heard oral arguments Monday on the appeal by
Roche Diagnostics of last year's judgment against Roche in litigation
brought by IGEN. A mid-2003 decision from the appeals court is
expected, IGEN said. -- edited by Stewart Winograd

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