Online Trading
_______________This article highlights online trading has not yet recovered. Less
retail traders in play. Many got wiped out and moved their money to safer grounds or out all together. My experience is that I'm still seeing lower volume trading among many of the venture stocks. I'm still making trades but the turnover is much slower. As so many articles have stated, daytraders bring liquidity to the market place. Take many of them out and trades slow down.
Of Note:Depressed trading volumes and low interest rates led to the 27% profit drop in the company's fiscal fourth quarter.
The broker, which runs the largest U.S. discount trading platform, said it expected mostly flat net revenue and trading
volumes in 2011.
Fourth-quarter trading tumbled 23% from last year, as investors stepped back from a choppy, directionless market
this summer.
It was the slowest trading period since the summer of 2008, when the financial crisis began to rattle stocks, though
volumes jumped 15% so far this month.______________________________________________________________________________________________
TD Ameritrade's profit falls 27% as trading slows Jonathan Spicer, Reuters · Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2010TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. reported a worse-than-expected profit drop and made a conservative growth prediction for the year ahead, sending its shares lower even as the big U.S. online broker unveiled its first-ever quarterly dividend.
Depressed trading volumes and low interest rates led to the 27% profit drop in the company's fiscal fourth quarter.
The US5¢ quarterly dividend decision could surprise some investors, since the company had this year used its deep pocket of cash to conduct a series of share buybacks. It could also signal that the company -- an aggressive buyer in the past -- is less likely to make an acquisition.
TD Ameritrade also said it expected earnings of US90¢ to US$1.20 per share for its 2011 fiscal year, which began this month. Analysts on average expected US$1.14 in earnings per share in fiscal 2011, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The broker, which runs the largest U.S. discount trading platform, said
it expected mostly flat net revenue and trading volumes in 2011.The 2011 forecast "was somewhat wider and a bit more conservative than we expected, with the level of trading activity the most significant variable," Goldman Sachs analyst Daniel Harris wrote in a note to clients.
TD Ameritrade shares fell as much as 5.1% early yesterday morning and closed at $16.79, up 0.2%.
Chief executive Fred Tomczyk said that it was finally time to offer a dividend.
"While we continue to see a challenging and uncertain environment as we look forward, we believe our business model has demonstrated a resiliency in a very difficult environment and we continue to take an opportunistic approach to investments in growth, acquisitions, share buybacks, and now a dividend," he said on a conference call.
TD Ameritrade earned US$114.0-million, or US20¢ per share, in the fourth quarter ended on Sept. 30, down from US$156.7-million (US26¢) a year earlier. Revenue was down 7% at US$608.8-million.
Analysts on average expected Omaha, Neb.-based TD Ameritrade to earn US23¢ per share on US$619.2-million in revenue, according to I/B/E/S.
The company faces the twin pains of slow trading and low interest rates, which hamper its ability to earn fees on money market funds. Rates will likely remain near zero as the U.S. economic recovery sputters.
Fourth-quarter trading tumbled 23% from last year,
as investors stepped back from a choppy, directionless market this summer. It was the
slowest trading period since the summer of 2008, when the financial crisis began to rattle stocks, though volumes jumped 15% so far this month.
The 5¢-per-share cash dividend is payable on Dec. 15 to common stock holders as of Dec. 1, the company said, adding it would continue to look at share repurchases.
Toronto-Dominion Bank, which has a 46% stake in the U.S. broker, said the results would contribute $33-million to its fourth-quarter results.
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