Traders invest hopes for 2006; After a year of flat returns, Wall Street dreams of ways to make the new year more profitable.(Business)

Byline: ELLEN SIMON Associated Press

NEW YORK - Ever have a day when you wondered why you bothered going to work? Imagine how you'd feel if the whole year went that way.

Ask a Wall Street trader - stocks' 2005 activity can be described by a nearly flat line. How can stocks escape from Nowheresville? The Street's big thinkers are eyeing each road out with a mix of hope and greed.

Hope No. 1: The Federal Reserve stops raising rates.

Sure, interest rates are still near historic lows, although the Fed has raised them 13 straight times. But the march of rate hikes still makes equity investors twitchy. What if the Fed overdoes it and sends the …