Stories by Megan Barnett

ETrade Weathers the Market, Beats the Street

Investors in online brokerage stocks breathed a sigh of relief Thursday morning when ETrade Group announced better-than-expected results for its fourth quarter. The company earned a profit of $US7.2 million, or 2 cents a share, on an operating basis, better than the break-even results Wall Street analysts had expected.

Nasdaq Follows Intel's Slide

The Nasdaq Composite Index opened down 5.4 percent Friday morning, led by plummeting shares of Intel Corp. The giant chipmaker announced after the market's close on Thursday it would miss third-quarter revenue expectations due to weak computer demand. Intel's stock came out of the gate down 24 percent.

Financial Sites of the Rich and Famous

For Todd Rulon-Miller, as for so many new-economy millionaires, time isn't money - it's more precious.

CS First Boston to Buy DLJ for $11.5 Billion

Credit Suisse First Boston announced Wednesday it had agreed to acquire Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. for US$11.5 billion, or $90 a share.

Dot-Coms Falling from Nasdaq's Grace

It was just a matter of time before the Nasdaq followed the lead of investors and dumped its Internet stocks.

Edward Jones: The Last Not-Com Brokerage

Dan Borgmeier has had it with online trading. A 31-year-old executive at a Minneapolis Internet startup, Borgmeier set up an ETrade Group account in late 1997 and got hooked on trading after raking in $US30,000 from hot tech stocks while paying only $US2,000 in commissions.

Bucking a Trend, TD Waterhouse Will Raise Fees

Having offered US$12 trades since January 1997, TD Waterhouse Group Inc. is expected to announce within a week that it will increase fees for some of its trades to $15. Effective Sept. 1, the higher commission will apply to limit orders for its U.S. brokerage operations. Fees for market orders and all international trades will remain unchanged.

Citibank Kills Net-Only Project

John Reed has some advice for financial institutions grappling with the Internet. Speaking at a financial-services conference last week, the former Citigroup Inc. (C) CEO said banks could set up independent Internet subsidiaries that have some ties to the parent's brand and resources, as well as benefit from new-economy leadership and technology.

Watching the Stock Watchers

When a system outage occurs at your online brokerage, the only way you might find out is if you're stuck in the middle of a trade or if the media reports the outage. But it happens more frequently than is reported.

Market Movers: Microsoft Ruling Boosts Market

D-Day finally arrived in the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case yesterday, but technology investors didn't mark the event with any great interest in the stock market. The government made it no secret that the remedy ruling, which was made public 30 minutes after the market's close, would call for Microsoft to be split into two separate companies. Investors demonstrated their reaction with a shrug.

Ameritrade Stays Its Rocky Course

As trading volume goes, so do the stock prices of online brokerages. That's particularly true in the case of Ameritrade Inc., which relies on trade commissions and fees for two-thirds of its revenues.

X.com CEO Gets the Boot

Internet payment startup X.com Corp. lost its chief executive last week. Bill Harris, who had been CEO since last November, cleaned out his desk on Thursday. Founder Elon Musk will assume the role of CEO.

E-Trade Exec Bolts to B-to-B Startup

It's not just the big traditional companies that are losing top executives to the Internet's flavor of the day, the emerging business-to-business market. Now the Net's own success stories are losing them, too.

E-Trade Exec May Swing Over to BigVine.com

E-Trade is expected to announce that Debra Chrapaty, the company's chief media officer, is leaving the brokerage to become president and COO of BigVine.com, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Does the Internet Make Insider Trading Too Easy?

Some of the messages on Yahoo Inc.'s Finance stock boards are beginning to take on a more cautious tone this week.