June 22, 2003

Individual investors lead charge back into stock market, with Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rising 13 percent and Nasdaq composite up 23 percent; three years of stock market torment seem not to have shaken long-held view that stocks are best for long haul; some Wall Street veterans say market's recent action has familiar and troubling feel that harks back to heady days of 1999; wonder whether investors, in their zeal to recover some losses in their portfolios, are too willing to forgive and forget lessons of torturous bear market; in most recent week, investors put $3.3 billion into domestic stock mutual funds; it was 14th consecutive week that more money flowed into than out of stock funds; with so much bullishness about, companies are finding it easier to raise money in stock market; graph (M)

Behind the Wheel column reviews 2004 Jaguar XJ8; chart lists features, prices and compares to similar models; photos (M)

Frank Rich comment on how homosexuality is beginning to be accepted as part of American culture; says speed of both political and cultural change is accelerating so much so that politicians who are hostile to or flummoxed by homosexuality, including some in Bush administration, are on collision course with history; says CBS staged first live gay network reality show in prime time and called it The Tony Awards; notes kiss by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, songwriters for musical Hairspray, to celebrate their Tony that was part of telecast; photo (M)

As Susan Brewton prepared to graduate this spring with a degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, she lay awake at night fretting about the tough job market she was about to enter. She needn't have worried. Before she was even able to don her cap and gown, she had four job offers. Even after she accepted a position as an engineer for the Naval Surface Warfare Center in West Bethesda, Md., the calls from eager military contractors hoping to employ her kept rolling in.

Article on recent marketing focus on 'metrosexuals'--straight urban men who embrace their feminine sides; Bravo plans to begin airing new makeover show, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, in which team of five gay men transforms style-deficient straight men; America's long tradition of sensitive and dashing men described; photos (M)