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To: Dealer who wrote (53865)	7/15/2002 12:07:56 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 65232

11:52 ET Fed rate cut rumors : Rumors that the Fed might cut rates are giving the market a lift off the lows; rumors apparently emanated from S&P futures pits. These rumors should be taken with a huge grain of salt - stock investors often like to think that Fed policy is conducted for the benefit of the stock market, but in fact the Fed focuses on the economy, and with the economy performing reasonably well right now, a rate cut is unlikely.

To: Dealer who wrote (53865)	7/15/2002 1:35:54 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 65232

eBay, Once an Online Flea Market, Thrives By Andrea Orr Sunday July 14, 2002 PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - As one of the few dot-com companies still thriving, eBay Inc. (NasdaqNM:EBAY - News) is often regarded as the rich cousin in a family of ne'er-do-wells, but it joined an exclusive neighborhood this week when it was added to the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Not bad for a company that started out in 1995 as an online flea market. Seven years after it was founded, and more than two years into the post dot-com bust that eliminated many peer companies or reduced them to penny stocks, eBay remains an almost unstoppable growth machine. "eBay has really been unique," said Safa Rashtchy, an Internet analyst with U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray. "It was really the only model that truly leveraged the Internet to get something done that couldn't be done before." The San Jose, California company has expanded from a niche site linking buyers and sellers of toys and collectibles, to one that comes closer than any other retailer in the world to being an all-encompassing bazaar where everything is for sale. The company says one Corvette is sold on its site every three hours, a diamond ring every six minutes, a digital camera every 90 seconds, and an article of clothing every three seconds. eBay's addition to the S&P 500, a move that generally brings both cachet and institutional investors, was the latest piece of good news for the Internet survivor. Earlier this week, eBay said its second-quarter results would be better than earlier forecast because of strong growth in both the United States and its international operations. The company also announced a deal to buy PayPal, the leading vendor of online payment services, for $1.5 billion, a move hailed by most analysts. POSITIVE MEDIA COVERAGE The recent press has also been friendly. Newsweek devoted an unusual cover story to the eBay in June, just as journalist Adam Cohen published "The Perfect Store," a book that tracks eBay from the early days when Pierre Omidyar, a ponytailed computer programmer, ran the site out of a spare bedroom in his Silicon Valley townhouse. eBay has nearly 50 million registered users, sites in 27 countries, and every day millions of people flock to the online auctioneer to bid on cars, real estate, food, wine and even underwear. In its most recent quarter, eBay said that some $3.11 billion of gross merchandise sales were transacted on its site, a 57 percent increase from the prior period a year earlier. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - News), the largest conventional retailer in the United States, remains much larger, with sales of $54.96 billion in its most recent quarter. But a growing number of consumers in the United States and abroad are turning to eBay to buy household goods and big ticket items. Businesses use the site too -- to purchase office equipment and even heavy machinery and farming equipment in bulk. eBay and consultancy Accenture are working together to make it easier for companies to sell off discontinued merchandise. Of the 14 analysts tracked by Multexnet, seven rate eBay a "strong buy," four rate it a "buy" and three have it as a hold. The concerns most often cited by the more cautious surround its valuation -- at Wednesday's close eBay traded at 76 times forecast 2002 earnings. eBay shares closed up $1.78 to $58.83 on the Nasdaq Wednesday. With a market capitalization of $16.81 billion, eBay has left peer Internet companies such as Amazon.com, valued at about $5.53 billion, in the dust. Which may be why eBay, which said it was delighted to join the S&P 500, took the move as a validation of the whole battered Internet sector. "I just think it is a recognition of eBay as a company and a community," an eBay spokesman said.