Would a Chase-Merrill merger make sense for consumers, or for the market? And does it even matter, since megabanks get to do whatever they want?

What's that sound? Urban-music titles are raising the volume at the newsstand -- and agitating to become the "Rolling Stone" of the future.

Sure, when Goldman, Sachs goes public, the firm's partners will get obscenely wealthy. But the real beauty part? They won't have to give up any control.

Forget Ken Starr: The president's old nemesis the bond market has come back to haunt him -- with a big assist from Japanese investors who are bringing their money back home.

When the Net-stock bubble bursts -- thanks, in part, to the increasing flood of dubious IPOs (hello, Prodigy!) -- must serious tech stocks get hit, too?

Drug companies have discovered women's health care in a big way. Now investors are asking, Is there a Prozac or Viagra in the offing?

We were supposed to love the 'noncyclicals' category -- Disney, Gillette, Coke -- for better or for worse. So why are these market darlings taking such nasty full-body blows?

As investment bankers lose their grip on the market, why are so many indie investors obediently reacting to their pronouncements? And why are telco mergers being ignored?

Track the Dow for a few hours, and you'll get vertigo. But look beyond the skittering ticker for a minute, and you'll find a thread of logic you can hang on to. Really.

Michael Dell is worth $11 billion, and his company has one of the hottest tech stocks around. But unlike a lot of its high-flying brethren, Dell Computer is the real thing.