424B3 1 f424b3_013105-retail.txt PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT FILED PURSUANT TO RULE NO. 424(b)(3) (To Prospectus dated October 25, 2004) REGISTRATION NO. 333-54662 [Retail Holders(SM) Trust Logo Omitted] 1,000,000,000 Depositary Receipts Retail HOLDRS (SM) Trust This prospectus supplement supplements information contained in the prospectus dated October 25, 2004 relating to the sale of up to 1,000,000,000 depositary receipts by the Retail HOLDRS (SM) Trust. The share amounts specified in the table in the "Highlights of Retail HOLDRS" section of the base prospectus shall be replaced with the following:
Share Primary Name of Company Ticker Amounts Trading Market ---------------------------------------------------- --------- ----------- --------------- Albertson's, Inc. ABS 8 NYSE Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN 7 NASDAQ Best Buy Co., Inc. BBY 6 NYSE Costco Wholesale Corporation COST 8 NASDAQ CVS Corporation CVS 7 NYSE Federated Department Stores FD 4 NYSE Kohl's Corporation KSS 6 NYSE Limited Brands, Inc. LTD 8 NYSE Lowe's Companies, Inc. LOW 14 NYSE RadioShack Corporation RSH 3 NYSE Safeway Inc. SWY 9 NYSE Sears, Roebuck and Co. S 6 NYSE Target Corporation TGT 16 NYSE The Gap, Inc. GPS 16 NYSE The Home Depot, Inc. HD 40 NYSE The Kroger Co. KR 15 NYSE The May Department Stores Company MAY 6 NYSE The TJX Companies, Inc. TJX 10 NYSE Walgreen Co. WAG 19 NYSE Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. WMT 36 NYSE
The share amounts listed in the table above reflect all previous stock splits, dividends and business combination transactions. The date of this prospectus supplement is December 31, 2004.