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FIDELITY BROKERAGE COMPANY UNVEILS THE BROADEST RANGE OF INDEPENDENT
EQUITY RESEARCH AVAILABLE FROM A MAJOR BROKERAGE FIRM
Individual and Correspondent Broker/Dealer Clients Will Have Access to Opinions on Thousands
of Equities from Seven Leading Independent Providers

BOSTON, July 14, 2004—Fidelity Brokerage Company today announced that it is significantly expanding its current suite of equity research for both individual investors and correspondent broker/dealer clients by adding analysis and opinions from some of the top-performing1 independent research providers: Prudential Equity Group; Reuters Company Research and members of Best Independent Research, LLC - Columbine Capital; Thomas White International, Ltd; Callard Research; Channel Trend; and Ford Equity Research.

Through a wide variety of reports covering more than four thousand companies in all sectors, Fidelity clients will be able to make better informed investment and portfolio management decisions. Fidelity's expanded independent research offering - now one of the broadest and most comprehensive available from a major brokerage firm2 - is free of charge for retail customers on Fidelity.com regardless of trading or asset levels. For correspondent broker/dealer clients of National Financial, research will be available - via its integrated brokerage platform Streetscape® - at a discount and will vary depending upon the provider and level of services selected, such as one-on-one access to analysts. The expanded research is now available for retail investors and is scheduled to be available to correspondent broker/dealers in early August.

“Fidelity is making a broad commitment to bringing the best-of-the-best independent research to individual and institutional investors alike,” said Ellyn McColgan, president of Fidelity Brokerage Company. "We're giving Fidelity retail customers top-performing institutional-quality research - previously unavailable to individuals - at no fee. We're helping broker/dealers meet their clients' needs by offering convenient and cost-efficient access to a variety of research experts. And, we're providing these independent research firms with a major distribution channel to help them reach a broad range of broker/dealers and investment professionals.”

The additional research rounds out Fidelity's current suite of equity opinions from Argus Research, Lehman Brothers and S&P Equity Research for all clients and additional equity information from Morningstar and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey for correspondent broker/dealers. The seven new independent research providers offer a mix of fundamental, technical, macro quantitative and analyst-written research that includes:

  • Prudential Equity Group - Features stock ideas, company and technical research, economic and market commentary written by 50 analysts. Coverage on more than 500 equities.
  • Ford Equity Research - Multi-factor quantitative methodology features company-specific research on more than 2,500 equities.
  • Columbine Capital - Multi-factor quantitative research features company-specific reports on more than 2,500 equities.
  • Thomas White International - Fundamental sector-based methodology features company-specific research on more than 2,500 equities.
  • Callard Research - Fundamental quantitative methodology features company-specific research on more than 1,500 equities.
  • Channel Trend - Company-specific fundamental valuation and price behavior analysis on 1500 equities.
  • Reuters Company Research - Multi-factor quantitative methodology features company-specific fundamental research and analysis on more than 4,500 equities.

As part of its enhanced research offering, Fidelity will also introduce a new, customizable stock screening application for individual investors on Fidelity.com and broker/dealer clients on Streetscape. This interactive tool ranks screening results using innovative scoring that identifies securities that may best fit the client's investment strategy. Clients can choose from more than twenty independent expert strategies to assist in narrowing their stock selection or choose from more than 100 evaluation criteria to identify and research individual securities. Additionally, stock comparisons can be made by industry or the overall market. Screen results can be saved, monitored or traded.

About National Financial

National Financial provides broker/dealers, ranging from institutional and full-service firms to independent contractors, banks and discount brokers, with clearing and execution products and integrated productivity tools to help enhance firm profitability, drive business growth and forge deeper customer relationships. National Financial also offers an online brokerage platform, compliance support, middle-office outsourcing, consolidated record keeping tools, fee-based solutions, and retirement and high-net-worth products, all supported by dedicated client service professionals. The company currently provides clearing services for more than 280 financial institutions representing nearly 3.3 million client accounts and approximately $333.4 billion in assets, as of May 31, 2004. For more information about National Financial, please visit www.nationalfinancial.com.

About Fidelity Investments

Fidelity Investments is one of the world's largest providers of financial services, with custodied assets of $1.9 trillion, including managed assets of $1.0 trillion as of May 31, 2004. Fidelity offers investment management, retirement planning, brokerage, human resources and benefits outsourcing services to 18 million individuals and institutions as well as through 5,500 financial intermediaries. The firm is the largest mutual fund company in the United States, the No. 1 provider of workplace retirement savings plans, one of the largest mutual fund supermarkets and a leading online brokerage firm. It has consistently ranked among the top five providers of retail online brokerage services based on accounts, assets and trading volume. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit www.fidelity.com.


1 Four of the research firms - Columbine Capital, Thomas White International, Ltd.; Channel Trend; and Ford Equity Research - ranked in the top five best-performing research firms among the 25 research firms covering greater than 500 stocks, as measured by Investars over the past four years using their ROSS Standard Return methodology. Performance measured as of July 9, 2004.

2 For retail brokerage customers, Fidelity offers online access to independent analyst research reports from ten different firms, which is the largest number offered by a major brokerage company, based on a survey of competitors' online offerings performed on July 9, 2004. Competitors surveyed include Charles Schwab, Ameritrade, E*Trade, HarrisDirect, Scottrade and TD Waterhouse.

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Lehman Brothers Inc., Member SIPC, is not an affiliate of Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC.

Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC. Member NYSE, SIPC.
100 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02110

National Financial Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC.
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 National Financial Services LLC, Member NYSE, SIPC
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