1.   Case Corp. led the advance amid optimism the heavy-machinery manufacturer will post robust profits for the fourth quarter.

2.   Exchange gains and losses arising from trading transactions are taken to profit for the year.

3.   As borrowing costs fall, profit for big lenders and borrowers alike tend to rise.

4.   Computer Associates, they say, has used accounting tricks to systematically overstate its revenue and profits for years.

5.   Honda said on Friday that profit for the full year will more than triple from last year.

6.   Instead it faces mounting criticism from shippers and others as well as bleaker profits for a still-undetermined period.

7.   Profit for the fourth quarter and the full-year will be higher than a year earlier, the company said without being more specific.

8.   Still, profits for investment bankers traditionally depended on building and guarding relationships -- the more exclusive the better -- with companies and investors.