Here they are...the most widely-read stories on TheStreet.com now:

Stocks Hover Amid Retail Earnings
Robert Holmes

Stocks hovered around the flatline Monday as investors weighed higher
earnings at Wal-Mart's against three consecutive winning weeks on the
Dow Jones Industrial Average.


Web Dating Game Heats Up
Jonathan Berr

Troublemakers on the online dating scene may have met their match in a
group of increasingly brand-conscious Internet giants. Yahoo!'s Yahoo!
Personals and IAC/InterActiveCorp's Match.com, two of the largest
Internet dating sites, are stepping up their efforts to weed their
services of abusive, obnoxious or married people.


Funds of Funds Could Face Reckoning on Fees
Emma Trincal

For investment advisers who place institutional money with hedge
funds, it's been a rough autumn. Such outfits, known collectively on
Wall Street as "funds of funds," were up just 3.61% in the 10 months
to Oct. 31, according to an index compiled by Hedge Fund Research. In
October, they returned a negative 1.46%. While not a terrible
performance on a relative basis (the S&P 500 is up 1.67% so far this
year), it's dangerous for a business that charges as much as this one.
Funds of funds are said to be "double layered" in their fee structure.
That is, they collect money from clients for arranging their
portfolios, and pass along the already-stiff management levies
assessed by the funds they select.


Escape the Ghosts of Lifeless Stocks
James J. Cramer

Fascinations with stocks from the past continue to plague those of us
who like to think of the future. This week I met with investors who
owned, respectively, Dell, Cisco, Sun Micro and Oracle. In each case I
told them to sell the stocks. In each case I said these stocks' best
years are behind them. In each case I said that they should move on to
find the next Dell, the next Cisco, the next Sun and the next Oracle.
And in each case they thanked me and indicated that they would wait
for a better time to sell. Better time to sell. What does that mean?

Closed-End Funds Slump Amid ETF Surge
Gregg Greenberg

Is the "chain reaction" in ETFs behind the recent explosion in
closed-end fund discounts? Out of all the traders spooked by October's
market mayhem, those that deal in closed-end funds, or CEFs, may have
felt their pulses quicken the most. According to Lipper, the median
discount for all CEFs plummeted 42% from 4.8% at the start of the
month to a six-month low of 6.8% on Oct. 21. CEFs typically trade in
relation to, but independent of, their underlying net asset values, or
NAVs. That means that unlike open-end mutual funds, shares of
closed-end funds can trade at premiums or discounts to their
underlying NAVs, a feature many traders find attractive.


Daily Investing Tip
Student Borrowers Must Consolidate Now
If you still have outstanding student loans, Congress is about to sock
you with much higher interest rates as part of a plan to close the
budget deficit gap. Several proposals now before the House and Senate
tinker with the formulas for calculating student loan interest, and
with graduates' ability to refinance their loans and lock in current
low rates. If you take action now, you may be able to escape this
irrational punishment. And you might want to contact your legislators
to protest. But first you must understand the process. -- Terry
Savage, TheStreet.com



Jeff Cooper
S&P Trajectory Has Been Majestic
The market has been powerful since the S&P recaptured its 200-day
moving average on Oct. 31.

Marc Chandler
Dollar Bulls Still in Driver's Seat
With Japan seemingly ruling out intervention and tough talk from the
ECB looking like hot air, the dollar still rules the roost.