Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks Features Unocal, Monsanto, Colgate-Palmolive, Symantec, and VERITAS Software.

CINCINNATI -- Among the stocks featured in the January 6 edition of Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks are Unocal (NYSE:UCL), Monsanto (NYSE:MON), Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL), Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC), and VERITAS Software (NASDAQ:VRTS). Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks is just one of the many free market commentaries written every day at www.SchaeffersResearch.com - the home of Bernie Schaeffer and Schaeffer's Investment Research. For additional information about this report or to have it delivered to you free via email every day click on the following link. http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PRSHS1M&PAGE=1.

Schaeffer's S&P 500 Index Hot Stocks for Thursday, January 6, 2005:

A daily feature available on SchaeffersResearch.com is the "SPX Hot Stocks" column. Each afternoon immediately prior to the close, we will provide a list of the day's top-20 performing stocks in the S&P 500 Index (SPX - 1,188.77) as well as the bottom-20 names. Featured along with this table will be news that is moving some of the shares.

Traders are trying their best to break their losing streak thus far in 2005, as the market seems to be ignoring the rising price of oil and some negative jobless claims news, with the SPX gaining 0.62 percent so far in trading.

NOTE: Stocks trading under $5 per share have been eliminated from this listing of the top-20 and bottom-20 performing stocks.

Our first stock making news today is California-based oil and gas producer Unocal (NYSE:UCL). Reuters reported that Chinese oil and gas producing company CNOOC is on the prowl to increase production as well as its natural gas business by acquiring the Asian assets of a foreign oil company. CNOOC has turned its attention toward UCL for the possible acquisition. Reportedly, CNOOC is prepared to spend a portion of its $3 billion on acquisitions. As China's economy has expanded, the country has seen large growth in demand for oil. According to the article, UCL has not commented on the possible acquisition. UCL has gained more than eight percent in trading today.

The next newsmaker is Monsanto (NYSE:MON). Today the company announced that it has resolved investigations by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which looked into the company's improper payments and financial irregularities in connection with the company's Indonesian affiliates. As a result of the settlement with the SEC, MON will stop any violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act along with making a $500,000 payment. In its settlement with the DOJ, the company agreed to pay a $1-million penalty.

The past two days have seen some mixed news for Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL). Yesterday, the company received a downgrade from "neutral" to "sell" from Banc of America. Additionally, the brokerage announced a price target of $44 on the company. The reason for the downgrade was that CL's pipeline could be weakened thanks to under-investing and limited research and development. Piling on the bad news, Banc of America stated that CL could also see manufacturing disruptions due to facility closures. While this was negative news, positive news was bestowed upon the company today when Oppenheimer upgraded the company to "buy" from "neutral." The brokerage firm believes that the stock has hit "an inflection point," resulting in the upgrade. CL has gained nearly four percent in trading today.

Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) and VERITAS Software (NASDAQ:VRTS) have found their way into the bottom two spaces in today's hot-stocks chart. The drop was precipitated by bearish comments from analysts as they examined the companies' merger and Microsoft's (MSFT) exploration into the antivirus market. Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Philip Winslow cut SYMC from "outperform" to "neutral." Quoted in an article on CBS MarketWatch, Winslow stated that challenges beyond the typical merger-related issues are going to try and block the merger from being a success. Winslow believes that slower growth from VRTS in its markets is going to have a negative impact on SYMC. Additionally, Morgan Stanley initiated coverage on SYMC with an "underperform" rating. In the same article, an analyst from Morgan Stanley stated the belief that MSFT's entrance into the antivirus market will cut into SYMC's portion of the market, which accounts for more than 50 percent of SYMC's revenue. SYMC has dropped more then seven percent in trading while VRTS has lost nearly 6.5 percent thanks to today's news.

Click the following link to see a Chart of the SPX 500 Index's Top 20 Percentage Gainers: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=12207

Click the following link to see a Chart of the SPX 500 Index's Top 20 Percentage Losers: http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/wire?ID=12207

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Schaeffer's Investment Research, founded by Bernie Schaeffer in 1981, is a financial information and trading resources company. It publishes Bernie Schaeffer's Option Advisor, the nation's leading options subscription newsletter. The firm's contrarian approach focuses on stocks with technical and fundamental trends that run counter to investor expectations. The firm's website, http://www.SchaeffersResearch.com, is recognized as one of the leading information sources for stock and options traders and was cited as the top options website by both Forbes and Barron's. Click here for more details about Schaeffer's trading methodology: http://www.SchaeffersResearch.com/method.