Midday Market View for December 26, 2001

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
Email Alert

Midday Market View(TM)
for Wednesday, December 26, 2001
as of 12:30PM EST
Information provided by Schwab Center for Investment Research
and Bridge

U.S. INDICES
(12:30 p.m. EST)

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Market Value Change

DJIA 10,154.49 + 119.15
Nasdaq Comp. 1,979.51 + 35.03
S&P 500 1,157.22 + 12.57
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NYSE Advancing Issues 2,003
NYSE Declining Issues 963
NYSE Trading Volume 384 mln
NASDAQ Advancing Issues 1,995
NASDAQ Declining Issues 1,449
NASDAQ Trading Volume 567 mln

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U.S. TREASURIES
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Value Yield Change

6-month bill 1.87% n/a
5-year note 4.53% - 10/32
10-year note 5.19% - 13/32
30-year bond 5.51% - 12/32

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

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SANTA CLAUS RALLY

U.S. equities are higher midday as some upbeat news in the
retail and Internet sectors is giving equities a lift in the
post-holiday session. Wal-Mart (WMT,59,f2&f4) reported it sees
higher-than-expected December same-store sales while Internet
portal Yahoo! (YHOO,18.03,f1) said sales at its shopping site
increased significantly. U.S. Treasuries are trading lower and
European markets are closed.

As of 11:46 a.m. EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up
1.2% while the Nasdaq Composite Index is 1.9% higher. The S&P
500 Index is up 1.2%. Oil-related and semiconductor shares are
pacing the advancers while steel and toy issues are leading the
decliners.

Leading retailer Wal-Mart is higher after the company stated
that it anticipates December same-store sales growth at the high
end of the 4%-6% range, exceeding its previous forecast. For the
Nov. 23 to Dec. 24 period, Wal-Mart said same-store sales growth
was in the mid- to upper- single digit percentage range.

Shares of Internet portal Yahoo! Inc. are higher on news that it
saw an 86% increase in sales at its shopping site during the
holiday season with ACNielsen figures indicating Yahoo customers
spent $10.3 billion in 4Q.

Micron Technology (MU,31,f2) is higher amid continued
speculation that the company is close to agreeing to an alliance
with South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor (HXSCY,$9.90). A month
ago, the two firms reported they were in "exploratory"
discussions regarding strategic options, however, no official
announcement has been made at this point.

Shares of EchoStar Communications (DISH,27,f1) are slightly
higher after The Wall Street Journal reported that it wants to
expand Hughes Electronics Corp.'s (GMH,15.02,f2) satellite
Internet service. If regulators approve Echostar's proposed
acquisition of Hughes, the company's chairman said he plans to
spend $1 billion on Hughes' Spaceway unit and increase ownership
in fixed satellite firm PanAmsat (SPOT,22,f1).

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TREASURY AND ECONOMIC SUMMARY

U.S. Treasury prices are lower across the curve midday ahead of
tomorrow's planned $23 billion 2-year Treasury sale. In today's
only economic release, the Redbook retail sales index recorded a
4.5% decline for the three weeks ended Dec. 22nd, slightly ahead
of Bloomberg's -4.6% estimate, with year-over-year sales
declining 0.6%. Tomorrow, the Labor department will release
initial jobless claims and on Friday the markets will be
watching for consumer confidence figures, the Chicago Purchasing
Managers' Index, new and existing home sales, and durable goods
orders.

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WORLD MARKETS

European markets are closed for the Christmas holiday. In
economic news, the French producer price index fell 0.6% in
November, twice the estimate, with the year-over-year figure
falling a larger than expected 2.3%. The euro is flat versus the
U.S. dollar. Crude oil got a boost following statements from
Saudi oil minister Ali Al-Naimi that OPEC will officially
announce a 1.5 million barrel per day supply cut on Friday.

Jeffrey Reeve, Market Analyst

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