Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

Midday Market View(TM) for Tuesday, May 15, 2001
as of 1:00PM EDT
Information provided by Standard & Poor's

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U.S. INDICES
(1:00p.m. EDT)

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Market            Value     Change

DJIA          10,849.00    - 28.30
Nasdaq Comp.   2,097.52    + 15.60
S&P 500        1,249.15     + 0.23
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NYSE Advancing Issues        1,705
NYSE Declining Issues        1,257
NYSE Trading Volume        498 mln
NASDAQ Advancing Issues      1,987
NASDAQ Declining Issues      1,621
NASDAQ Trading Volume      782 mln

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U.S. TREASURIES
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Value            Yield      Change

1-year bill       3.77%        n/a
5-year note       4.99%     - 9/32
10-year note      5.47%     - 9/32
30-year bond      5.84%     + 1/32

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

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U.S. TRADING SUMMARY

Stocks continue to hover around unchanged levels as U.S. traders
await the Fed's decision on interest rates. Volatility and
trading volume diminished as the day wore on. While many traders
believe that the Fed will cut the key short-term interest rate an
aggressive 50 basis points, there is a sizable amount of
uncertainty surrounding the policy statement that will be
released with the Fed's rate decision. Given increasing
speculation that the Fed's easing cycle is coming to an end,
investors will closely scour the wording of the statement for
clues about future Fed actions. If the market interprets the Fed
as suggesting that its easing cycle is about to end, the stock
market's focus will likely shift back to corporate earnings,
which have been shaky of late and worrisome to investors.

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U.S. TREASURY SUMMARY

All was quiet as bond traders await the outcome of the Federal
Open Market Committee's meeting at 2:15 p.m. EDT. Ahead of the
news, Treasuries drifted modestly lower on profit-taking as
shorter-dated Treasuries under-performed the bond. Reduced
expectations for continued Fed rate cuts have been the major drag
on shorter-term bills and notes this session. Look for Treasuries
to continue to trade in light volume ahead of the FOMC
announcement.

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CURRENCY SUMMARY

With traders unwilling to make bets ahead of the FOMC meeting,
the dollar is little changed from morning levels against the euro
and the yen. The greenback is currently trading around 123.2 yen
and 0.879 dollars per euro.

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MAJOR COMPANY / INDUSTRY NEWS
(All prices as of 1:05 p.m. EDT)

** Verisign (VRSN: 53.00, + 1.64) and the Department of Commerce
appear close to reaching an agreement that will extend Verisign's
control over the ".com" Internet address suffix, according to The
Wall Street Journal. The agreement would be a major coup for
Verisign, which maintains control over the majority of Internet
domain name registrations. The company has come under the
microscope from regulators amid voiced concerns from other
companies stating that Verisign's hold over ".com" is
anti-competitive. Currently, Verisign has a preliminary agreement
with the Department of Commerce to maintain control of the ".com"
suffix through at least 2007.

** Home Depot (HD: 50.11, + 0.96) reported a
stronger-than-anticipated profit in the first quarter of this
year, citing reduced expenses and stronger sales. The firm said
net income rose to $632 million, or $0.27 per share. Sales rose
9.8%. The firm was expected to earn $0.25 per share. As for the
next quarter, the firm said it expects to meet analysts'
expectations for per share profit.

** Bail has been set in the corporate espionage case involving
two former Lucent Technologies (LU: 9.80, + 0.09) employees who
are accused of stealing trade secrets. Authorities allege that
the information was destined for a company that is majority-owned
by the Chinese government. A federal judge set bail at $900,000
for each of the two defendants. The two former employees, along
with a third man, are accused of stealing source code and
software associated with Lucent's PathStar Access Server. The
case demonstrates the vulnerability of U.S. corporate companies
to the threat of global economic espionage.

** The time for individual stock futures is just around the
corner. Soon investors will be able to buy and sell futures on
individual stock issues on the largest U.S. derivatives
exchanges, according to newswire reports. Both the Chicago
Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board Options Exchange have
agreed to take part in the venture. The joint venture will be its
own regulated exchange and a for-profit entity. A future
obligates the holder to buy or sell the underlying security, at a
date and price that is specified in the future. Single-stock
futures trading may begin as early as August for institutional
investors and in December for retail investors.

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RESEARCH SPOTLIGHTS

** Friedman, Billings and Ramsey upgraded shares of Tupperware
Corp. (TUP: 21.99, + 0.07) from an accumulate to a buy rating.

** Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Robert Half International
(RHI: 28.34, + 0.42) from an outperform to a strong buy rating.

** Jefferies upgraded shares of 3DO Co. (THDO: 2.95, + 0.12) from
a hold to an accumulate rating.

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