CHICAGO, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Man Securities issues the following Market News Update, FuturesWatch and new PriceWatch Alerts for key stocks at 1:37 PM EDT.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020214/MANSECLOGO )

New PriceWatch Alerts for EBAY, C, WMT, NYT, and SBL ...

PRICEWATCH ALERTS - HIGH RETURN COVERED CALL OPTIONS -----------
-- eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) Last Price 58.89 - JAN 55 CALL OPTION@ $8.80 -> 9.80 % Return assigned*
-- Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) Last Price 35.34 - JAN 35 CALL OPTION@ $2.65 -> 7.07 % Return assigned*
-- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) Last Price 56.46 - JAN 55 CALL OPTION@ $5.00 -> 6.88 % Return assigned*
-- New York Times Co. Class A (NYSE: NYT) Last Price 47.57 - JAN 45 CALL OPTION@ $4.60 -> 4.72 % Return assigned*
-- Symbol Technologies Inc. (NYSE: SBL) Last Price 6.66 - JAN 5 CALL OPTION@ $2.00 -> 7.30 % Return assigned*

*For details on these types of investments and to receive a FREE copy of, "The 18 Warning Signs That Tell You When To Dump A Stock", go to: http://www.poweropt.com/pwa2 .

** Will Microsoft's stock price go up or down in the 60 days? And why? Is it time to sell or buy the stock? What did we uncover about the company? And... How will it affect the stock price? To get a copy of our Microsoft Focus Report go to www.poweropt.com/pwamsft .

MARKET NEWS UPDATE
The three economic reports released today looked like "the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," but failed to route early enthusiasm shown in stocks. U.S. Housing Starts surged by 13.3 percent in September to 1.843 million on an annualized basis. The experts had expected a rise of just 2.6 percent. Another positive indicator as to the health of the sector, building permits jumped by 3.7 percent to an annualized rate of 1.727 million. The August report was revised to the good, at a minus 1.5 percentfrom the initially reported 2.2 percent decline. Until the September gain, housing starts had fallen for three consecutive months.
Initial jobless claims surged once again by a larger-than-expected 22,000 to 411,000 for the week ending October 12. That rate of increase pushed the four-week average upward by 4,750 to 408,750, the highest level in six weeks. Continuing claims rose by the largest amount in nearly seven years, surging 141,000 to 3,755,000 for the week of October 5.

* Be prepared for the investing week ahead with Bernie Schaeffer's FREE Monday Morning Outlook. For more details and to sign up go to:
http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/redirect.asp?CODE=GJ01A3&PAGE=1

FUTURES WATCH
The markets have gotten very quiet as the 11:00 Philadelphia Fed report is due to come out. The S&P futures need to trade below the 8770 level if we're going to see a resumption of the selling we saw earlier in the session. The NASDAQ futures have held up well while the S&P futures were trying to push their way lower which is one of the reasons why that market just ran out of downside momentum. The action is still in a sideways mode and may stay like that after the number is released since traders don't seem to want to put on any positions knowing that there are many more earnings reports due out this afternoon. Tomorrow is the option expiration and that should have a strong impact on the market all the way into the close.

*For futures updates from Harry Michas throughout the day see www.manmarketmonitor.com/mu.html.

Man Financial Inc is one of the world's major futures and options brokers and has been recognized as a leading option order execution firm for individuals and institutions. Member NYSE/CBOE/FINRA/SIPC (CRD#6731). For more information and a free CD with educational tools to help you invest smarter, see http://www.mansecurities.com/mu.html.

This PriceWatch Alert was prepared with data and information provided by:
PowerOptionsPlus.com - The Best Way To Find, Compare, Analyze, and Make Money On Option Investments - Get your 14 day FREE trial at www.Poweropt.com/pwa.

Schaeffer's Investment Research - Sign up for your FREE e-weekly, Monday Morning Outlook, Bernie Schaeffer's look ahead at the markets. Sign Up Now http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/redirect.asp?CODE=GJ01A3&PAGE=1

All stocks and options shown are examples only. These are not recommendations to buy or sell any security and they do not represent in any way a positive or negative outlook for any security. Potential returns do not take into account your trade size, brokerage commissions or taxes which will effect actual investment returns. Stocks and options involve risk and are not suitable for all investors and investing in options carries substantial risk. Prior to buying or selling options, a person must receive a copy of Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options available from Sharon at 800-837-6212 or at http://www.cboe.com/Resources/Intro.asp. Privacy policy available upon request.

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SOURCE Man Securities
-0- 10/17/2002
/CONTACT: Michael Lavelle of Man Securities, +1-540-547-1744/
/Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020214/MANSECLOGO
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PRN Photo Desk, +1-888-776-6555 or +1-212-782-2840/
/Web site: http://www.mansecurities.com/mu.html/
(EBAY C WMT NYT SBL)

CO: Man Securities; eBay Inc.; Citigroup Inc.; Wal-Mart Stores Inc.;
New York Times Co.; Symbol Technologies Inc.
ST: Illinois
IN: FIN PUB
SU: INO

AB-JR
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0728 10/17/2002 14:41 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com

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