Two other languages had made respectable gains as well, with Polish at 18,653 and English at 18,169.

The Dow Jones industrial average, which had been in negative territory recently, is suddenly posting a respectable gain of 500 points, or 6.4 percent, for the year.

Note issues also posted respectable gains.

Yet Exxon's stock has risen more than 60 percent in price since the spill, for a respectable - if not spectacular - 8 percent annual gain.

Soybean futures posted respectable gains for the second consecutive day yesterday despite an early harvest that had been expected to keep a lid on price increases.

Even new issues that ended up posting respectable gains last week got off to unusually slow starts.

For the decade though, and despite a mild recession between 1960 and 1961, the average still managed a respectable 30% gain from the 616 level to 800.

While the Gap was flat, Talbots and Ann Taylor Stores, which have taken beatings all year, both reported respectable gains of about 4 percent.

All of this combined says to me there is not yet an opportunity for a respectable gain in share prices.

Designer names, which tend to be sold through department stores, continue to win favor with shoppers, providing those stores with respectable gains all year.