Investors left early for summer vacation, sapping midyear earnings for Charles Schwab Corp <SCHW.N and other U.S. brokerages that focus on retail investors. A sluggish economy, volatile markets and threats of government debt defaults worldwide have scared investors away from buying stocks, analysts said. That bodes ill for Schwab, TD Ameritrade (AMTD.O) and other so-called retail brokers that are reporting their quarterly earnings during the week beginning July 18. "We saw a much weaker quarter," said Joel Jeffrey, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. "With the tough economic news, some retail investors moved to the sidelines." The business of handling stock and bond trades began slowing in March after a robust start to the year, and events ranging from the Japanese tsunami to the European debt crisis and a lethargic U.S. economy have continued to plague the online brokerage firms and their full-service retail competitors.
TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation (TD Ameritrade) is a provider of securities brokerage services and technology-based financial services to retail investors, traders and independent registered investment advisors (RIAs). Shares of AMTD fell by 0.22% or $-0.04/share to $18.02. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $14.53 and as high as $22.90. On average, 3793170 shares of AMTD exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 5878349.
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