Davidson 99 Regional Index Up Slightly During the Third Quarter.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. -- D.A. Davidson & Co., the largest full-service investment firm based in the Northwest, today announced that the Davidson 99 Regional Stock Index rose 0.4% percent for the third quarter of the year, lagging the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ Composite for the quarter but retaining some of its gains for the year.

For the third quarter, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4.7 percent, catching attention in recent days as the index has flirted with, but failed to close at, a record high level. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite were up 5.2 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively. Year to date, the Davidson 99 Regional Index is up 3.2 percent, compared with a 9.0 percent gain for the Dow, a 7.0 percent rise for the S&P 500 and a 2.4 percent gain for the NASDAQ Composite. Since its inception in January 2004, the Davidson 99 is up 32.9 percent.

"The Davidson 99 Regional Index lagged behind the major market indices during the quarter, reflecting a big shift in market attention away from smaller regional industrial and basic material companies that have a significantly greater weighting in the Davidson 99 Regional Index than their weighting in the major market averages," said Fred Dickson, Chief Market Strategist for D.A. Davidson & Co.

"The Davidson 99 Regional Stock Index continues to enjoy the benefit of strong regional economic growth from the services, healthcare, technology and consumer products sectors of the economy," Dickson said. "But the index's third quarter performance reflected the impact of falling commodity prices in several of its basic materials component members and negative investor reaction to earnings surprises posted by several component companies across a wider variety of industries, directly related to the economic slowdown in the third quarter."

Four Davidson 99 stocks gained more than 20 percent during the quarter, led by Teletech Holdings Inc., up 23.5 percent; Columbia Sportswear Co., up 23.3%; Level Three Communications Inc., up 21.4%; and Coinstar Inc., up 20.2%.

The Davidson 99 stocks with the worst performance for the quarter were Stillwater Mining Co., off 33.8%; Labor Ready Inc., down 29.7%; Zumiez Inc., off 28.1%; and American Ecology Corp., off 25.5%.

Two changes were made to the Davidson 99 index during the third quarter. Advanced Digital Information Corp. was replaced with Cascade Bancorp Inc. Western Gas Resources Corp. was replaced with Black Hills Corp. Both Western Gas Resources and Advanced Digital Information were acquired by companies outside of the Pacific Northwest/Rocky Mountain region, and thus no longer qualify for inclusion in the index.

The Davidson 99 was launched Jan. 1, 2004. It is comprised of 99 stocks from companies operating within seven Northwest and Rocky Mountain states, including Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. The securities were selected based on market capitalization, importance within their sectors and importance in the states they represent. All 10 major market sectors are represented, showing the diversification of the region's companies.

The Davidson 99 Regional Index is published daily at www.dadavidson.com, along with occasional commentary from D.A. Davidson's Private Client Strategy Team on the performance of the index and implications regarding the economic health of these regions. The index is price-weighted, or calculated in the same manner as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the world's most widely followed stock index. The closing price of each component in the index is determined daily after the markets' close, and the values are summed and compared with the value set on Dec. 31, 2003, then adjusted for stock splits and mergers. The index was set to a base value of 100 on Dec. 31, 2003.

About D.A. Davidson & Co.

Founded in 1935, D.A. Davidson & Co. is an independently owned, full-service investment firm based in Montana, with offices in 16 states. D.A. Davidson & Co. is owned by Davidson Companies, one of the nation's leading regional financial services holding companies. Also part of Davidson Companies are Davidson Trust Co., a wealth management and trust firm; Davidson Investment Advisors, a professional money management firm; Davidson Fixed Income Management, a registered investment adviser providing money management and other fixed income services; and Davidson Travel, a full-service travel agency.

Shares in the Davidson 99 Regional Stock Index cannot be bought or sold, and companies included in the index may or may not be covered by D.A. Davidson's research team. Information regarding the national indices referred above can be obtained at www.dadavidson.com or by contacting a local D.A. Davidson office.