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The S&P Wizard of Oz 500 was up 0

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The S&P updates 1939 wizard of oz 500 was wicked witch oz recounts up 0. 5% for the month. Real estate investment trusts, which invest in commercial property, also prospered amid the hunt for dividend income. A Bloomberg index of 150 REIT shares rose 3. 2% for the month and is up 13. 3% since New Year's. Wall Street sputtered to a mixed finish Monday, unable to sustain Friday's rally, which was sparked by new hopes for an end to the Federal Reserve's credit-tightening campaign. In July, the stock sectors that scored hefty gains included utilities, energy and real estate investment trusts, while smaller stocks, technology issues and transportation stocks tumbled. Major stock indexes were little changed for the day, and winners and losers were nearly evenly matched on the New York Stock Exchange. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 34. 02 points, or 0. 3%, to 11,185. 68. The Nasdaq composite index edged down 2. 67 points, or 0. 1%, to 2,091. 47, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index eased 1. 89 points, or 0. 2%, to 1,276. 66. The Dow jumped 119 points on Friday and Treasury bond yields fell after the government said the economy's growth rate slipped to an annualized 2. 5% in the second quarter, a slower pace than many analysts had forecast. That boosted expectations that the Fed soon would stop raising short-term interest rates Policymakers' next meeting is scheduled for Aug. 8. But on Monday, Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, and William Poole, president of the St. Louis Fed, said separately that the Fed faced a tough call on interest rates because of inflation pressures amid a weakening economy. "There's no trend" in the stock market, said Gil Knight, who helps manage $81 billion at Gartmore Global Investments, "because we really don't have a firm handle on what the Fed's intentions are. There's a lot of confusion among investors and it's welling up in the stock market. One day everybody's happy, and the next they're not. "Some trends were evident in July, however.

Investors generally sought out so-called defensive stocks, or companies whose sales and earnings would be expected to hold up reasonably well if the economy continued to cool. The Dow utility-stock index, for example, jumped 4. 7% during the month, lifting its year-to-date gain to 7%. Utilities also benefited as nervous investors looked for issues that pay substantial cash dividends, which can provide a buffer in a falling stock market. That trend helped blue-chip stocks as well baum wizard of oz . The S&P 500 was up 0. 5% for the month. Real estate investment trusts, which invest in commercial property, also prospered amid the hunt for dividend income wisard of oz . A Bloomberg index of 150 REIT shares rose 3. 2% for the month and is up 13. 3% since New Year's. On the downside, smaller stocks, tech shares and transportation issues fell in July as investors ditched sectors that could be hurt by a weakening economy. The Russell 2,000 small-stock index lost 3. 3% for the month, cutting its year-to-date gain to 4. 1%. Transportation stocks were hit hard by economic concerns last month wizord of oz . The Dow transports index plunged 11. 1%, paring its year-to-date gain to 4. 4%. One economic report Monday hinted that business might be picking up wizerd of oz . An index of Chicago-area manufacturing activity rose to 57. 9 in July from 56. 5 in June. A reading greater than 50 signals growth. On Friday, the government will report employment data for July.

That could be crucial information for the Fed as it decides what to do with interest rates. Among Monday's market highlights:* Energy-related stocks rallied, extending their gains for the month, as oil and natural gas prices rose black wizard of oz . Near-term crude futures in New York added $1. 16 to $74. 40 a barrel. Baker Hughes rose $2. 05 to $79. 95, Sunoco gained $1. 22 to $69. 54 and EOG Resources was up $2. 09 to $74. 15. * Avon Products slumped $3. 82 to $28. 99 after the company said profit fell for the fourth straight quarter because of costs to eliminate jobs and boost flagging sales. But Humana surged $4. 39 to $55. 93 after the healthcare provider said second-quarter profit rose 10%, helped by results at its Medicare program. * Phelps Dodge, the world's No wizaed of oz . 3 copper producer, soared $5. 84 to $87. 34 on speculation the company could be a takeover target or pay a special dividend as odds improve that its bid for nickel miner Inco will fail wizzard of oz . Teck Cominco increased its hostile bid for Inco on Monday to thwart Phelps Dodge's offer munchkin costume . Inco gained $1. 37 to $77. 77. * In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note slipped to a seven-week low of 4. 98% from 4. 99% on Friday, as bond investors continued to bet the economy would slow further. *(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)Mixed monthHow key stock market indexes performed in July and their year-to-date gains or losses:*--* Pctg. change: Index July YTD Dow utilities +4. 7% +7. 0% NYSE energy +4. 0 +16. 0 Bloomberg REITs* +3. 2 +13. 3 NYSE composite +0. 9 +6. 3 S&P 500 +0. 5 +2. 3 Dow industrials +0. 3 +4. 4 Russell 2,000 -3. 3 +4. 1 S&P small stocks -3. 5 +3. 5 Nasdaq composite -3. 7 -5. 2 Dow transports -11. 1 +4. 4*--**Real estate investment trustsSource: Bloomberg News.

Never quite sure whether a stock fund you own is a "growth" or "value" fund? Just check its performance in the third quarter. Growth funds rallied while value funds mostly lost ground in the three months ended Sept buy wizard of oz . 30, one of several significant shifts during a wild time in financial markets. Another momentous shift: the resurgence of big-company stocks while smaller stocks struggled. Overall, most stock funds made money in the quarter, despite extraordinary market turmoil triggered by a global credit crunch. The average diversified U. S tin man of oz . stock fund was up 1% in the quarter and 9. 9% for the first nine months of 2007, according to Morningstar Inc tinman of oz . The average foreign fund rose 4. 6% in the quarter and 17. 3% in the nine months, helped by robust economic growth abroad, and the tail wind of a weak dollar Wizard of Oz - imdb . But if the trends underlying stock funds' recent returns continue, investors' portfolios could be facing a radical turnabout from what they've known for much of this decade. Value-oriented stocks and funds have mostly ruled the market since 2000, as many investors sought relative safety in shares that appeared cheap based on their earnings or other measures dorthy of oz . That's the classic definition of value on Wall Street. By contrast, many growth stocks -- shares of companies whose earnings are expected to grow at an above-average pace over time -- have been in the doghouse since 2000. Wizard of Oz tickets That was the beginning of the crash in technology shares, which had long epitomized growth investing. But look who's back on top this year.

In all three broad size categories of stocks (large-capitalization, mid-cap and small-cap), growth-focused mutual funds significantly outpaced value-focused funds in the third quarter and the nine months, according to Morningstar. Mid-cap growth funds, for example, were up 3. 7% in the quarter, on average Mid-cap value funds lost 3 . 2% in the period . Fund returns include share price change plus any dividends earned. Funds that focus specifically on tech issues rose 6. 6%, on average, in the quarter and 17. 8% in the nine months. Growth-stock fund managers had been telling their shareholders for two years that a rebound was overdue scarecrow of oz . "This year it finally happened," said John Calamos Sr. , head of Calamos Asset Management in Naperville, Ill. His $15-billion Calamos Growth fund surged 21. 8% in the first nine months, boosted by hefty holdings of tech shares including Apple Inc. , Google Inc wizard of emerald city . and Nokia. Many market professionals say the gains in the growth sector, and the sell-off in value, reflected some simple math: As growth stocks lagged in recent years they began to look inexpensive relative to their underlying earnings Wizard of Oz - wikipedia . The opposite was happening to value stocks . As the shares rose, they began to look pricey compared with earnings. "Valuations have been compressing for years between value and growth stocks," said Greg Carlson, an analyst at Morningstar in Chicago Wizard of Oz . "Growth just got too cheap," Calamos said. Cases in point: At midyear, shares of cellphone giant Nokia were at about $28, or 16 times the $1. 76 a share the company is expected to earn this year. Railroad company Union Pacific Corp. , traditionally a value stock, was more expensive than Nokia at midyear, with the stock's price-to-earnings ratio at about 17. Nokia shares jumped 35% in the third quarter while Union Pacific slipped about 2%. Apart from valuations, the shift to growth and away from value was helped along by the midsummer market upheaval, money managers say. The credit crunch fueled by the U. S. housing sector's woes raised doubts about the domestic economy's health.