NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Last week's rally came as a bit of a surprise. Now comes the hard part, the follow-up. Can you say summer stall-out?

When it's this hot in Manhattan, stock prices tend to get sticky!

("Apply directly to the forehead! Apply directly to the forehead!" Love those HeadOn commercials...)

METLIFE: Sometimes old reliable is a good thing. This big New York based insurer does life, homeowners, and auto insurance. (Actually it's the biggest U.S. insurer by assets.) Company reported profits that exceeded expectations so it could be a mover to the upside. MET has gone from the low $20s in '02 to $52. Not bad. Company has a big presence in the Big Apple....it has the old PanAm building in midtown as well as Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town, which form the largest apartment complex in Manhattan. It's been selling property like this though and coining money. (Some worry about sustainability of profits...) Its Travelers business - which it bought last year-is said to be clicking. P/E of only 10. Looks solid to me. And yes, Snoopy is the CED, (chief executive dog.)

TECK COMINCO: Reader Deep Blue brought this mining giant to my attention. It recently listed on the NYSE. TCK produces zinc, coal, copper, gold, lead, as well as some rarer metals, like your germanium and your indium. Company is based in Vancouver - uh oh - that makes me think of Bre-X, a Canadian mining concern that turned out to have some, um, issues. TCK is caught up in this whole Phelps Dodge merger mess, and in fact just raised its offer for north-of-the-border nickel giant INCO. Stock has had a nice run here already from $58 to $66 this month. It's cheap, a P/E of only 8. Still I would be wary. Metals have come so far, and this merger battle is a mess.

KORN/FERRY: The NFL has engaged this executive search firm to find a new commissioner. Let's take a look. KFY hasn't been a superstar, though it has outperformed the market over the past five years .Company's actually bigger than you might think, with an $800 million market value. An interesting point here though is that CEO turnover is at an all-time high, and finding top exec talent is what this company does. So I would say the environment for this business is quite positive. Now, as for the NFL search, they say there's a short list of candidates. Ha! There's like 11 people on the list! The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Fidelity's Rob Reynolds is being considered. Puh-lease. (Why not Scott DeSano at same company?)

Loose Change: So I saw Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center." Tell you what, this is some powerful medicine. It's tough to watch. Much of the film is watching two guys pinned under 20 feet rubble. And you know Oliver Stone - never subtle. I'm not sure I can really recommend the movie, it's so torturous. Even though it's a feel good movie, it sure as hell didn't make me feel good. I thought about how much has changed over the past five years. So much good will squandered if you ask me....

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E-mail Andy Serwer at serwer@fortunemail.com

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