"We likely will see the index in March remain down to flat giventhe market's performance," he says. "Las Vegas Sands and WynnResorts will likely dictate the performance of the index in Marchbecause some of the other players within the index--Harrah's andStations--will have price points that remain flat due to pendingtransactions."

The index was launched in 1998 with a value of 100. February's1.5% (7.6 points) decline to 494.21 is largely attributable to thedrop in valuation by Las Vegas Sands (LVS), which maintains alarger-than-average weighting on the overall index given it highmarket capitalization relative to the other companies in the index,Gordon says. The company's share price posted an all-time-highshare price on the first day of February at $105.7. It closed themonth at $86.3, a decline of more than 18%.

The performance of Las Vegas Sands put more than 23 points ofnegative pressure on the index. That was offset by nearly 13 pointsof positive pressure by MGM, which saw its average daily shareprice rise in February from $65.88 to $71.30, and a combined sixpoints of positive pressure by Harrah's Entertainment and WynnResorts, which each saw their average daily share price riseslightly during the month.