thank you for your responses Paul and Don.

While i didn't end up using either suggestion. Both did stir the thought
process.

here's the end result.

Sub runthis()
'
' Macro1 Macro
' Macro recorded 11/10/2008 by desneaul
'

'
Application.ScreenUpdating = False

Range("B3").Select
Do
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Select
Selection.Insert Shift:=xlDown
ActiveCell.Offset(2, 0).Select
Loop Until IsEmpty(ActiveCell.Offset(0, 0))


Dim j As Variant
Dim i As Variant
For i = 3 To 401 Step 2
For j = 3 To 17
Range("c" & i).Select
Cells(i, j) = Cells(i - 1, j) / Cells(i - 1, 2)
Next j
Row(i).Select
Selection.NumberFormat = "0.00%"

Next i
End Sub


thanks for your suggestions.
christian