SAN FRANCISCO and NEWPORT BEACH, CA -- 07/13/99 -- E*OFFERING's E*Commerce and Content Analyst Andrea Williams initiated coverage today on StarMedia Network, Inc. (STRM) with a Buy rating. StarMedia is the dominant online network focused on Latin America. Through its network of seventeen interest-specific channels, the company provides original and third-party content, as well as extensive community features, sophisticated search capabilities, and access to online shopping-all in Spanish and Portuguese.

"We believe that StarMedia is ideally positioned to capitalize on the rapidly expanding market for Internet usage in the region," said Williams. "Moreover, by being early in establishing its brand in Latin America, we believe that the company has created significant barriers to entry."

E*OFFERING, the online investment banking firm funded in part by E*TRADE Group, Inc. (EGRP) and Sandy Robertson, founder and former CEO of Robertson Stephens & Co., provides full service investment research and capital markets capabilities to institutional and individual investors.

Digital Day Trading: How On-Line Day Traders Can Move from One Winning Stock Position to the Next

CHICAGO, May 18 -- No doubt about it, the Internet has leveled the financial playing field for individual investors. It doesn't take big dollars or a seat on an exchange to be a trader anymore. Anyone with a PC can execute his or her own stock trades, and compete with Wall Street heavyweights who are working with the same market information at the same time. Today, one of the investing world's hottest arenas is electronic day trading -- capitalizing and executing trades based on a stock's moment to moment changes.

In his new book, "Digital Day Trading: Moving From One Winning Stock Position to the Next" ($40; hardcover, Dearborn), Abell offers tactical and strategic guidelines for those seeking success in electronic day trading.

Abell drew on more than 25 years of personal experience to guide traders toward developing a highly effective trading strategy that is personal, profitable, and consistent. In his "Digital Day Trading Method" (Chapter 9), he presents information a day trader should use to execute successful trades including analyzing specific charts, identifying swing patterns, and computer setups.

Abell reviews standard stock selection criteria including liquidity, volatility, and price levels. He also provides specific recommendations to guide traders wherever possible. For example, Abell encourages beginners to trade the NASDAQ market -- open to all traders via ECNs (electronic communication networks). The NASDAQ puts individual investors on equal footing with market professionals, whereas other exchanges are still traded within a specialist system. Other exchanges, Abell says, do not let individuals have direct access to buyers and sellers, which causes on-line investors to lose much of their edge in short-term trades.

In "Digital Day Trading," Abell observes that while a good strategy is the fuel that produces on-line success, using good "psychology" is just as important. "To be successful, a day trader must be able to act absolutely, automatically, and effortlessly when the signal is right," Abell says.