1.  Any possible landfall would be late Tuesday, but already a heavy surf advisory was posted from Jupiter Inlet to Brunswick, Ga.

2.  Department stores, which for the past year have been stealing sales from specialty apparel retailers, posted anemic results.

3.  Department stores, which had been posting strong gains in same-store sales, turned in slim increases for August.

4.  Delays in the government's construction program hampered growth in the Federated-Blaikie building-materials division and the BarCep appliance unit posted a loss.

5.  Dell joins Gateway and Hewlett-Packard among the major computer makers now expected to post a decline in earnings this year.

6.  Dell posted its earnings and announced the split after the market's close.

7.  DELL-EARNINGS _ Dell will post earnings and is expected to come in at 27 cents a share.

8.  Cup driver Michael Waltrip has posted two consecutive top-10 finishes in the No. 21 Citgo Ford.

9.  Despite being riddled with more shots than a duck in a shooting gallery, he posted a goals-against average of 3.14.

10.  Delta Air Lines posted a 10.8 percent gain in quarterly profits, aided by low fuel prices and a February pilot sickout at American Airlines that forced cancellations.