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To: KM who wrote (10402)	1/4/2000 1:28:00 PM
From: Scott Kleinhans	Respond to of 13953

BusinessWire, Jan 4, 2000 13:13 hrs Robertson Stephens Analyst to Interview On RadioWallStreet Internet Broadcast PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 4, 2000--E*TRADE Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:EGRP), Ameritrade Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:AMTD), and Knight/Trimark Group Inc. (NASDAQ:NITE) were discussed by Robertson Stephens Senior E-Finance Analyst, Scott Appleby, on RadioWallStreet on Tuesday, January 4, 2000. This call will be broadcast at 1:00 PM, Investor Broadcast Network, f/k/a Vcall Corporation, announced. EST. Michael Giampetroni, a Commentator for RadioWallStreet, conducted the interview. To access this RadioWallStreet broadcast, investors should go to radiowallstreet.com. Listeners should go to the website at least fifteen minutes before these events to register, download, and install any necessary audio software. For those unable to attend the live broadcast, replays will be available beginning approximately one hour after each event. There is no charge to access any event. If you are viewing this release after the day of the event, you will find this interview in the "All Recent Shows" section of the website. quote.lycos.com

To: KM who wrote (10402)	1/4/2000 1:53:00 PM
From: Esway	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13953

Surge in trading expected to benefit Web brokers By Jack Reerink NEW YORK, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Investors funneled record numbers of stock trades through the Internet in last year's final quarter, helping online brokers to report strong results in the next few weeks, analysts said on Tuesday. U.S. Web brokers processed 700,000 to 750,000 stock trades a day in the fourth quarter, up 40 to 50 percent from the third quarter, analysts said. The surge in share trading coincided with a sharp rise in U.S. stocks during the quarter. ``People at year-end got their bonuses, that probably drove some of the volume,' said analyst Amar Mehta of CIBC World Markets. ``They saw (the Nasdaq rise) and just had to be in the market.' The Nasdaq composite index rose 48 percent in the fourth quarter, and trading volumes rose 27 percent to more than 80 billion. The index includes shares of leading U.S. technology and Internet companies, such as Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) and Yahoo Inc. (NasdaqNM:YHOO - news), which also are online investors' pet shares. The rise in trading volumes should enable Internet brokerages to beat Wall Street estimates when they start reporting results for the December quarter in the next few weeks, analysts said. Most Web brokerages will remain in the red, though, due to heavy advertising spending to attract new customers. Internet brokerages have lured customers by offering rock-bottom commission rates -- as little as $8 a trade -- and free stock quotes and research tools. The number of online brokerages has mushroomed to 200, from a few four years ago, and the industry has attracted close to 10 million accounts. Shares of online brokerage firms, led by No. 2 U.S. Web broker ETrade Group Inc. (NasdaqNM:EGRP - news), rose on Tuesday after two securities analysts predicted sharp volume gains and better-than-expected results for the industry. The shares gained even as the Nasdaq dropped more than 3 percent on renewed fears of higher U.S. interest rates. ETrade shares were up 15/16 to 29 and the stock of online brokerage DLJdirect Inc. (NYSE:DIR - news) added 5/16 to 14 in early afternoon trading. Shares of other online brokerages, including those of industry leader Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE:SCH - news) and Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NasdaqNM:AMTD - news), fell but much less than the stocks of full-service brokerages such as Merrill Lynch and Co. Inc. (NYSE:MER - news). UPSIDE EARNINGS SURPRISES Schwab, which has 6.4 million customers and processed a record 236,000 trades a day in December, last week already signaled business is booming. The San Francisco-based brokerage said it would earn between $162 million to $171 million in the fourth quarter, up 61 percent from $106 million a year ago and better than the $145 million profit analysts were expecting. Two analysts, Richard Repetto of Lehman Brothers and Scott Appleby of Robertson Stephens, on Tuesday said ETrade and Ameritrade should exceed expectations for their fiscal first quarters ended Dec. 31. Wall Street expects ETrade to lose 20 cents a share in the quarter and Ameritrade to lose 12 cents, according to market research firm First Call/Thomson Financial. E*Trade and Ameritrade could beat the First Call consensus estimates by as much as 10 to 20 percent, Appleby said. Knight/Trimark Group Inc. (NasdaqNM:NITE - news), Nasdaq's biggest share dealer, also should exceed expectations for the December quarter, Appleby added. Online brokerages send the brunt of their customer orders to Knight/Trimark for processing. ``We're going to see upside surprises,' Appleby said. Knight could earn 10 percent more than Appleby's projected profit of 40 cents a share, the analyst said. The First Call consensus estimate for Knight/Trimark is a profit of 36 cents a share. Other online brokerages, including DLJdirect and TD Waterhouse Group Inc (NYSE:TWE - news) should do equally well, thanks to ballooning trading volumes. ``They're all going to have a great quarter,' CIBC's Mehta said.