Today's number: $20 billion

Expected sales of flat-panel computer screens this year, which would beat those of traditional picture-tube models for the first time as prices fall, market researcher IDC said.

Bloomberg News

Today's career tip

The best marketing has always been word-of-mouth marketing, contends Dave Siegel, Tim Coffey and Greg Livingston in their book The Great Tween Buying Machine: Marketing to Today's Tweens. It is particularly effective among teenagers. Find the network hubs: "Individuals who are likely to be popular, self-confident leaders who enjoy the fact the others will follow their actions."

John Eckberg

Today's mover

Karen Keller has been named vice president of destination services, special events and membership at the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau. Keller has been with the Bureau for 26 years, most recently as director of convention marketing and special events. She attended the University of Cincinnati and has more than 20 years of experience within the sales and marketing divisions.

Shirley Dees

Today's money tip

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index number measures the value of all 500 member companies combined. It's just stated as a smaller scalebecause speaking in trillions gets cumbersome.

Here's roughly how the calculations work:

The market capitalization of each company is figured by multiplying its stock price by the number of outstanding shares.

The 500 market caps are then added and the total is divided by a constant "scale factor." Because of the rules of algebra, the index will move by the same proportion as the sum of the market caps.

Amy Higgins

Today's Company: Hotel Development Services

Turnkey: HDS was established in April 1997, when David Wespiser joined his hotel management experience with the construction capabilities of boyhood friends James Clawson, Robert Ciampa and Brian Kelly. The company's focus was to perform complete development and construction services in the hospitality industry, from design and site preparation to management team selection.

Teammates: Clawson, Kelly and Ciampa formed CKC Inc., an Oxford-based construction company, soon after their graduation from Miami University. Their enterprise has built custom homes, multi-unit residences and a variety of commercial and hospitality structures since its founding in 1982. HDS, also in Oxford, is a joint venture between CKC and Wespiser.

Hotels Near And Far: In 2002 the company opened The Elms Holiday Inn in uptown Oxford. HDS is currently working on a 117-unit Staybridge Suites property in West Chester, Holiday Inn's luxury extended-stay product. This month, HDS breaks ground on a Hampton Inn and Suites in Lafayette, La. It also has Holiday Inn Express properties under construction in Lebanon, Ind. and Logan, Ohio.

Joint Ventures: HDS usually maintains partial ownership of properties it develops, although it can provide services for other companies.

Jenny Callison