NEW YORK (AP) -- Solar stocks rallied Monday as investors shook off concerns about high polysilicon costs squeezing profit margins. Many stocks within the sector declined last week after LDK Solar Co. reported surging prices for polysilicon, a key manufacturing material, cut into the company's third-quarter profit margins. Monday was a half-day of trading before the Christmas holiday.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Semiconductor stocks rose Monday, helped by an analyst report indicating the microchip market should grow in the first quarter of 2008. Wachovia Capital Markets analyst David Wong said in a note to investors that he expects worldwide microchip shipments in the coming weeks to reflect continued single-digit growth. He also said weakness in memory chip pricing will be offset by growth in other segments. Concerns about falling prices led shares of leading memory chip companies to fall last week.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Delayed holiday flights, a bankruptcy filing by a business-class airline and a downbeat outlook for the biggest U.S. carrier weren't enough to keep investors away from airline shares, which rose Monday as oil prices fell.

NEW YORK (AP) -- CME Group Inc.'s stock slipped Monday after a group of banks and trading firms said they plan to launch their own futures exchange to try to garner cheaper commissions. Late Friday, 12 financial institutions including Merrill Lynch & Co., Citigroup Inc., and Bank of America Corp. unveiled a plan for an electronic trading exchange. Initially, the exchange will host trading of futures contracts linked to U.S. Treasury bonds and then branch into new products later next year.

This exchange traded fund tracks the Nasdaq 100 Index, made up of the 100 largest and most actively traded nonfinancial stocks on the Nasdaq. It's the most actively traded equity security in the world. A rebalancing has led to an uptick in the fund. The rerankings were announced after the close Dec. 14, and the fund saw a pullback of slightly more than 2% on Dec. 17, the next business day. Ever since then, though, the ETF has gained 5%. It has a 19% year-to-date return for 2007.

NEW YORK (AP) -- It hasn't taken John Thain long to put his stamp on the world's largest brokerage. After being named chairman and chief executive of Merrill Lynch & Co. just three weeks ago, Thain on Monday secured a capital infusion worth up to $6.2 billion and sold off one of Merrill's lending units. His fast action came at a critical time; some analysts think Merrill is facing credit-related writedowns of $10 billion for the fourth quarter.