Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.

Midday Market View(TM) for Thursday, May 24, 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          11,053.33    - 51.92
Nasdaq Comp.   2,239.85     - 3.63
S&P 500        1,282.16     - 6.89
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NYSE Advancing Issues        1,295
NYSE Declining Issues        1,608
NYSE Trading Volume        662 mln
NASDAQ Advancing Issues      1,676
NASDAQ Declining Issues      1,764
NASDAQ Trading Volume      943 mln

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U.S. TREASURIES
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Value            Yield      Change

1-year bill       3.65%        n/a
5-year note       4.93%       unch
10-year note      5.40%     - 2/32
30-year bond      5.79%     - 5/32

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

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U.S. TRADING SUMMARY

The U.S. headline indexes have been hit with a variety of data
and events, but there has been little net change in the major
bourses as trading remains volatile. Senator James Jeffords
announced his defection from the Republican Party, but stated
that he would not disrupt President Bush's tax package. Some
investors had feared that Jeffords' defection would put the tax
package at risk. Meanwhile, economic data pointed to further
erosion in the labor market and suggested that the best
conditions in the housing sector may be in the past. But while
signs of economic weakness are not encouraging for the corporate
profit outlook, the news did buoy traders' optimism that the
Federal Reserve will further cut interest rates next month.
Overall, the host of conflicting factors has made it difficult
for stocks to find a direction.

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U.S. TREASURY SUMMARY

The bond has continued to under-perform the other maturities as
traders buy shorter-term issues believing the Federal Reserve
will once again lower interest rates at its June meeting. Indeed,
financial contracts that are based on the expected policy actions
of the Fed at upcoming policy meetings are now indicating a 70%
probability that the Fed will ease interest rates another 25
basis points. The probability moved higher after the
weaker-than-expected home sales data and the
larger-than-anticipated rise in weekly initial jobless claims
seen this morning. Both data releases continued to show the
economy as weak and vulnerable to further erosion, something the
Fed has suggested it wishes to arrest as quickly as possible.

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CURRENCY SUMMARY

The value of the U.S. dollar in relation to the yen and the euro
has changed little from morning levels as traders continue to
access Wednesday's sharp moves by both pairs. At midday, the
greenback was trading around 0.857 dollars per euro and at about
120.1 yen.

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

** Echostar (DISH: 33.15, - 0.88), the second-biggest U.S.
satellite broadcaster, is putting the finishing touches on a
merger proposal to acquire Hughes Electronics (GMH: 24.57, +
0.82), according to The Wall Street Journal. This would one-up
the long pending and sometimes contentious negotiations between
Hughes and Rupert Murdoch's Australia-based News Corp. (NWS:
36.37, - 0.86). If General Motors (GM: 56.29, + 1.11), the parent
and owner of 30% of Hughes Electronics, decides to entertain
Echostar's proposal, the merger would set the stage for a major
test at both the Federal Communications Commission and the
Justice Department over how each will deal with complex
telecommunications antitrust issues. A combined Echostar/Hughes
Electronics titan would dominate satellite broadcasting in the
U.S. with about 15 million subscribers.

** American Airlines (AMR: 37.94, - 0.61) announced on Thursday
that it has agreed to enter into binding arbitration with federal
mediators after talks with its flight attendants union broke
down. The current mediation board just declared that three days
of talks had come to a head and no further progress could be
made. The flight attendants union has agreed to call a crippling
strike if deemed necessary as the contract talks have been
ongoing for about two years without a settlement. While some
progress had been made in the latest negotiations, basic economic
issues such as minimum pay, salaries and life/health insurance
benefits remain sticking points.

** ConAgra (CAG: 20.01, - 0.60) announced on Thursday that it
will issue downwardly revised financial statements for the past
three years after an internal audit uncovered accounting
irregularities. The effect of the revisions will be to lower
earnings for 1998 through 2000. However, the current fiscal
year's earnings will be restated higher. ConAgra is the nation's
second-largest food producer and owns such brands as Healthy
Choice, Butterball and Armour.

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RESEARCH SPOTLIGHTS

** A.G. Edwards upgraded shares of Franklin Resources (BEN:
44.85, - 0.15) from an accumulate to a buy rating.

** BMO Nesbitt Burns upgraded shares of Datamirror Corp. (DMCX:
3.87, - 0.13) from an underperformer to a market performer
rating.

** C.L. King upgraded shares of Elizabeth Arden (RDEN: 25.12, +
0.12) to a strong buy rating.

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