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Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
Midday Market View(TM) for Tuesday, May 22, 2001 as of 1:00PM EDT Information provided by Standard & Poor's ================================================================ U.S. INDICES (1:00p.m. EDT) ---------------------------------- Market Value Change DJIA 11,301.20 - 36.70 Nasdaq Comp. 2,312.46 + 6.87 S&P 500 1,313.30 + 0.47 ---------------------------------- NYSE Advancing Issues 1,420 NYSE Declining Issues 1,563 NYSE Trading Volume 704 mln NASDAQ Advancing Issues 1,936 NASDAQ Declining Issues 1,734 NASDAQ Trading Volume 1.35 bln ================================== U.S. TREASURIES ---------------------------------- Value Yield Change 1-year bill 3.71% n/a 5-year note 4.96% + 2/32 10-year note 5.39% - 2/32 30-year bond 5.77% - 9/32 The tables above look best when viewed in a fixed-width font, such as "Courier." ================================================================ U.S. TRADING SUMMARY Weakness in the Dow continued to weigh on the NASDAQ and S&P 500 at the middle of the trading day. Yet, the losses were small and well contained throughout the morning as investors digested a week of heady gains in the NASDAQ. With little economic data on this week's calendar, and an upcoming three-day weekend, traders were somewhat hesitant to commit more capital given the lack of additional information about the state of the U.S. economy. Industries bucking today's consolidative trend and moving higher included financials, computer software and communications equipment firms. Industries struggling along with the broader market included a host of defensive sectors including drugs, health care and oil. ---------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. TREASURY SUMMARY Shorter-dated Treasury issues continued to outperform the longer-dated issues into midday trading. With no economic data on the calendar, investors are digesting previous data and repositioning their holdings among different Treasury debt issues as some inflationary concerns remain. These inflation concerns have resulted in players selling the bond to buy shorter-dated securities. Shorter-dated issues are also getting support from a mild equity safety bid as all three equity indices have been unable to extend Monday's gains. Traders were also listening to comments from a variety of Federal Reserve speakers, whose words had little net effect on Treasuries. ---------------------------------------------------------------- CURRENCY SUMMARY A lack of market-moving data or events during North American trading kept the U.S. dollar in a fairly subdued range this morning. The dollar has managed to edge modestly higher versus the yen to about the 122.8 yen level, pushing off morning lows of about 122.5 yen. Meanwhile, the greenback has strengthened to around 0.865 dollars per euro. The dollar lost ground against the yen overnight following the release of data suggesting that the Japanese economy was not as weak as many had feared. However, weaker-than-anticipated European data boosted the dollar against the euro during European trading hours. ---------------------------------------------------------------- MAJOR COMPANY / INDUSTRY NEWS (All prices as of 1:05 p.m. EDT) ** The Securities and Exchange Commission began an investigation into unusual transactions between Xerox (XRX: 10.60, - 0.75) and Citigroup's (C: 52.60, + 1.04) Citibank unit that may have helped boost ailing Xerox's profit and revenue statements, reports The Wall Street Journal. The SEC has subpoenaed Citibank for its records on Xerox's Brazil division regarding the transactions. A former Xerox employee charges that Xerox improperly booked erroneously inflated revenue of roughly $140 million and pretax profits of $80 million. According to the article, Citibank does not appear to have done anything wrong by arranging the transactions for Xerox. Neither company would comment on the matter. ** Office product retailing giant Staples Inc. (SPLS: 16.26, + 0.74) reported fiscal first-quarter profits that were in line with expectations. Staples also stated that while its second quarter will be weak, the company still believes that it is on target to meet full-year estimates with stronger third- and fourth-quarter results. Staples reported earning $40 million, or $0.09 per share in the fiscal first quarter, which was just slightly below the $44.2 million, or $0.10 per share earned in the same quarter last year. Revenues increased 4% to $2.7 billion. ** Vivendi Universal (V: 68.80, + 0.43) is on the acquisition trail again. After offering to purchase MP3.com (MPPP: 4.87, + 0.02) yesterday, Vivendi announced that it is in preliminary talks to buy U.S. publisher Houghton Mifflin (HTN: 55.75, + 2.25) for a minimum of $1.7 billion, reported The Wall Street Journal. The merger would allow Vivendi, Europe's biggest media company, to expand its publishing business to the United States and beyond its scope of Europe. ---------------------------------------------------------------- RESEARCH SPOTLIGHTS ** Robertson Stephens upgraded shares of Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX: 36.03, - 2.00) to a strong buy rating. ** Union Securities upgraded shares of Aspen Technology Inc. (AZPN: 26.27, - 1.92) from a buy to a strong buy rating. ** ABN Amro upgraded shares of E.Piphany (EPNY: 16.21, + 0.51) from a hold to an add rating. ################################################################ Log in using the links below to: Access your account: https://investing.schwab.com/trading/start?SANC=CCBodyi&NeedCASelValue=Y View your Email Alert customization options: https://investing.schwab.com/trading/start?SANC=EAMyAlerts Perform research or request a market quote: https://investing.schwab.com/trading/start?SANC=Quotes Place a trade order: https://investing.schwab.com/trading/start?SANC=TradeStock To visit Schwab's home page, use this link: http://www.schwab.com/ ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe or modify your Email Alert customization options, log in using the link below or copy and paste it into your browser's address window: https://investing.schwab.com/trading/start?SANC=EAMyAlerts Now you can receive graphics Email Alerts in HTML format, using helpful, full-color graphics and active Web links that connect you directly to information you want. Use the link below to log in and change your email format preference: https://investing.schwab.com/trading/start?SANC=EAEditEmailAddr ---------------------------------------------------------------- Notice: All email sent to or from the Charles Schwab corporate email system may be retained, monitored and/or reviewed by Schwab personnel. (1000-8752) Copyright 2001 Standard & Poor's MMS Inc. All rights reserved. Standard & Poor's MMS services are for personal use only. Commercial use or redistribution in any form, print or electronic, is prohibited. Distribution by Quris, Inc.
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