Oct. 5--The rally in the U.S. stock markets, which started earlier this year, continued through the third quarter, boosting both the Tulsa Index and two other national stock indexes.

The Tulsa Index rose a significant 23.5 percent in the July-to-September period while the Standard and Poor's 500 rose 15.6 percent and the Russell 2000 rose 19.3 percent. Out of the 65 member companies within the local index, 62 posted positive returns for the quarter.

"These are just eye-catching substantial returns, and the data backs up that No. 1 Oklahoma has not suffered as much as the national economy," said Jake Dollarhide, CEO of Longbow Asset Management Co. in Tulsa.

He attribute the out performance of Tulsa Index to its composition of "broad, diversified group of strong companies with local ties to the Oklahoma economy which has fared better, in most categories, than the national average."

The Tulsa Index includes companies that have headquarters or other significant operations in the Tulsa World's readership area. The SandP 500, by contrast, is a composite of the nation's largest companies, while the Russell 2000 is an index of smaller companies.

Year-to-date the local index is up an "astronomical" 58.1 percent, beating out gains of 19.3 percent rise for the SandP 500 and 22.4 percent for the Russell 2000. Brunswick Corp. was the local index's top gainer for the quarter, as its stock price rose 177.3 percent. It was followed by AMR Corp., up 97.8 percent; Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc., up 76,3 percent; Whirlpool Corp., up 65.5

percent and International Bancshares Corp., up 58.2 percent.

Even among the bottom five performers for the quarter, only three posted negative returns. "We couldn't fill out of the bottom five, there were not five stocks that actually lost," Dollarhide said.

Level 3 Communications Inc. was down 7.9 percent for the quarter. It was followed by Matrix Service Co., which was down 5.3 percent; Orchids Paper Products Co., down 2.7 percent; Verizon Communications Inc., up 0.1 percent and North American Galvanizing and Coatings Inc., up 0.2 percent.

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