Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

Morning Market View(TM) for Wednesday, May 23, 2001
as of 11:00AM EDT
Information provided by Standard & Poor's

================================================================

U.S. INDICES
(11:00a.m. EDT)

----------------------------------
Market            Value     Change

DJIA          11,171.40    - 85.80
Nasdaq Comp.   2,271.33    - 42.52
S&P 500        1,296.43    - 12.95
----------------------------------
NYSE Advancing Issues          813
NYSE Declining Issues        1,902
NYSE Trading Volume        315 mln
NASDAQ Advancing Issues      1,083
NASDAQ Declining Issues      2,200
NASDAQ Trading Volume      567 mln

==================================

U.S. TREASURIES
----------------------------------
Value            Yield      Change

1-year bill       3.68%        n/a
5-year note       4.94%     + 4/32
10-year note      5.38%     + 2/32
30-year bond      5.76%     + 5/32

The tables above look best when viewed in a fixed-width font,
such as "Courier."

================================================================

U.S. TRADING SUMMARY

U.S. equities came under pressure this morning after a downgrade
in the semiconductor sector, along with profit-taking in
networking powerhouse Ciena, overcame a bullish upgrade of Dell
Computer by a major investment bank. Furthermore, rumors that
Republican Senator James Jeffords may become an independent have
also weighed on equities, as such a move would have a significant
impact on the Bush budget proposal that is currently being
debated in the Senate. Indeed, Democrats have been doing their
best to reduce the magnitude of the tax-cut measures contained in
the budget bill, and the defection of a Republican senator would
give the party significant leverage. With the equity market
looking forward to a tax cut and the expected boost to the
economy that such legislation could bring, uncertainty
surrounding the cuts has not been well received.

----------------------------------------------------------------

JAPAN / EUROPE SUMMARY

The major European stock indexes were all modestly underwater
after the European Central Bank's failure to lower interest rates
fueled traders' ongoing malaise. The ECB, facing potentially
rising inflation pressures and slower growth, decided to leave
short-term rates unchanged. Predictably, technology was the
weakest link as the FTSE shed 1.1%, the French CAC-40 dropped
0.9% and the German Dax slipped 0.8%. Elsewhere, Japanese shares
dropped for the second day as traders remained nervous ahead of
profit results from some major banks. The Nikkei lost a modest
0.2% while the Topix fell a slightly worse 0.3%.

----------------------------------------------------------------

CURRENCY SUMMARY

The U.S. dollar has continued its divergent ways versus the yen
and the euro, strengthening versus the euro but weakening against
the yen. Yen strength has been fueled by the unwinding of so
called yen carry trades, which is when investors buy back yen
that had been borrowed at a zero interest rate. The borrowed yen
was used to fund higher yielding instruments. Weakness in the
euro has also likely prompted some yen strength, but rhetoric out
of Japan has probably been just as significant a factor.
Overnight, the Japanese economic minister stressed the
government's determination to push through reforms. At the same
time, support for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party ahead of
the July elections appears to be growing. As for the euro, the
common currency remains under pressure, dropping to 0.859 dollars
as the European Central Bank refrained from dropping interest
rates after today's meeting.

----------------------------------------------------------------

MAJOR COMPANY / INDUSTRY NEWS
(All prices as of 11:05 a.m. EDT)

** Citigroup (C: 51.87, - 0.68) will be dropping the venerable
Salomon name from both its corporate and investment bank.
However, Citigroup will keep the Smith Barney portion of the name
for its retail brokerage business. Citigroup is cutting the
Salomon name to simplify and clarify its brand image. The Salomon
and Smith Barney names have deep roots that go back to the late
1800s.

** Major investment banking and institutional brokerage
powerhouse Goldman Sachs (GS: 101.20, - 2.09) is cutting about
12%, or 150 employees, of its investment banking staff due to a
slowdown it its key businesses, reported The Wall Street Journal.
The planned cuts will hit more senior-level positions including
managing directors and partners. Goldman is also planning more
severe measures should the economic downturn persist longer than
expected.

** Avant (AVNT: 19.85, + 2.01), the maker of semiconductor design
software, finally pleaded no contest to allegations of stealing
trade secrets from Cadence Design Systems (CDN: 22.83, - 0.88)
and will pay $27 million in damages. The 7-year legal case
centered around employees who left Cadence to start Avant and
were accused of stealing software code belonging to Cadence.
Avant's legal counsel said that the case does not affect any of
the firm's current product offerings.

----------------------------------------------------------------

ECONOMIC NEWS

** No data today.

** THURSDAY - Weekly initial jobless claims, April new home
sales.

** FRIDAY - April durable goods orders, revised first-quarter
U.S. Gross Domestic Product, April existing home sales,
University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment for
May.

################################################################

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.