Online Brokerage Shares Surge on Investor Enthusiasm jboxford.com
Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of online brokers rose to
records after Ameritrade Holding Corp. and E*Trade Group Inc. announced
stock splits and investors bought Internet stocks that haven't participated in this
year's surge.
E*Trade, Ameritrade, Siebert Financial Corp. and Southwest Securities Group
Inc. rose to records, while J.B. Oxford Holdings Inc. reached a seven-year
high. E*Trade split its shares 2-for-1 today and Ameritrade said it will do the
same on Feb. 22 for shareholders of record Feb. 5.
Shares of Internet brokers increased as much as 12-fold since October as
customers, trading by the click of a computer mouse, increased their purchases
and sales 34 percent.
''There may be a little bit of an emotional attachment'' to the stocks of Internet
brokers, said Ameritrade Chairman and Chief Executive J. Joe Ricketts. These
stocks rose as much as 12- fold since October and investors don't want to
miss more of the rally, he said.
J.B. Oxford, a Beverly Hills, California-based discount brokerage, more than
doubled to 5 9/16 from 2 19/32, on volume of 20.5 million shares, making it
the third most active U.S. stock.
An article in today's New York Times said large brokerages are trying to step
up their online trading efforts in response to discount brokers' success.
17:08:40 02/01/1999
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