Stronger Opening

Stocks appeared set to open higher
Monday.

Protein Design Labs
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announced that Phase I/II trials of the company’s SMART Anti-Gamma Interferon
Antibody showed some promise in patients with moderate to severe Crohn’s
disease.

Maxygen
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entered into a
three-year agreement with Aventis Pasteur to develop vaccines for undisclosed
biological elements.

According to a report in the New York
Times,
consensus on the Street is that EchoStar’s
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bid to acquire
Hughes Electronics
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will be rejected by Federal Regulators, due to
antitrust issues.

“Monsters Inc.,” which opened in theaters
this week, earned a box office record of $63.5 million. The movie a product
of Pixar Animation
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and Disney
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.

Emiratus has ordered 25 Boeing
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777s.

Pixar Animation
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was
downgraded by Prudential from Buy to Hold.

Merrill Lynch downgraded Gap Inc.
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from Buy to Neutral.

Sangstat Medical
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was downgraded by
Merrill Lynch from Accumulate to Near Term Neutral.

Bruker Daltonics
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reported
Q3 net of 2 cents a share, beating consensus of 1 cents a share.

Helen of Troy Ltd
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said
earnings and sales should beat numbers for the same quarter a year ago. The
company expects sales to increase to 15% to $137 million with earnings coming in
the range of 32 to 34 cents.