MARKET DATA BRIEFS

Merrill Lynch has signed a six-year agreement with Dow Jones Newswires to provide a suite of real-time news and information products. Primarily utilized by Merrill Lynch's Global Private Client Group, the services will be delivered predominantly on the Wealth Management Workstation, Merrill's new desktop system for Financial Advisors. In addition, Merrill's clients can access the information through online channels hosted on Merrill's Web site.

Charles Schwab and CyberTrader announced that their active trader clients will be able to access a new direct streaming real-time quotation service. The service was developed by CyberTrader, the direct-access brokerage subsidiary of The Charles Schwab Corporation. The quote delivery system will use a direct connection between from the market to the trader's workstation to provide faster quotes from US exchanges, ECNs and other market centers. It will also provide news from Dow Jones and Comtex News.

Telekurs and Financial Technologies International are combining products to create an integrated reference data-management solution, called StreetReference with Telekurs. The offering, which conjoins Telekurs' Valordata Feed and FTI's StreetReference Package, will be "shrink-wrapped" solution that will reduce implementation time and complexity. The solution is scheduled to be released to existing Telekurs and FTI customers as well as prospects at the end of the second quarter of this year.

SunGard Market Data Services announced that it has entered into an agreement with Comtex News Network to distribute real-time news services and content through its SunGard PowerData delivery solutions and market data workstations. Comtex's Wall Street news services include content on world equity, fixed income, commodities markets, SEC filings, corporate earnings, mergers and acquisitions and product releases.