The market is in a rotational phase toward the more stable growth companies -- and that would include the big pharmaceuticals.

The bigger story here is the return to historical norm of the sales number. The 7 percent internal growth number will help build a higher level of confidence that the company's investment efforts in hiring sales personnel is paying off.

We're doing OK. Are we going gangbusters? No. As we get into the week after Christmas, you're going to have another push upward of sales.

They've kept a very tight control over quality. These people are extremely disciplined.

Retailers have come through with very solid reports. We felt that the drop in gas prices would help. More importantly, we saw the weather shift, which really helped in the last week of the month.

That is indicative of pre- and post- hurricane buying in places like Florida, where people tend to stock up before a hurricane and then afterward they try to do some replacement shopping.