IBKR - Charles Schwab CEO sees return of the bulls based on equity exposure

2023-07-19 05:01:52 ET

Retail investors are turning bullish, according to Charles Schwab ( NYSE: SCHW ) CEO Walt Bettinger, as investor optimism slowly returns to the stock market.

Clients have been adding equity exposure in the past few months, Bettinger told CNBC, with the volume of buy orders on Schwab's ( SCHW ) platform 20% higher than sell orders in Q2.

"What's interesting about June is that, even as this cash realigning fell to the lowest level it's been in many months, part of that was because clients are now moving back into the equity markets," said Bettinger.

"It's clients simply moving into something in cash that pays higher yield. They're back in the market," he added .

Schwab's ( SCHW ) Q2 earnings beat expectations as it added 1M new brokerage accounts. It ended the quarter with $8.02T in total client assets, up from $7.58T at the end of Q1.

The results lifted its stock to a four-month high, before paring gains to close up 12.6% on Tuesday. However, SCHW is still 19.4% lower YTD after a selloff spurred by the regional banking crisis, amid concerns about deposit outflows.

Other rivals in the industry - E-Trade from Morgan Stanley ( MS ), Merrill Edge from Bank of America ( BAC ), and Interactive Brokers ( IBKR ) - also reported quarterly numbers on Tuesday.

More on Charles Schwab

• Charles Schwab: The Fed Cleared The Path For A Higher Valuation
• Charles Schwab: Buy While The Market Is Pessimistic
• Charles Schwab: Real Value Lies Hidden In One Of Its Preferred Stocks
• Charles Schwab: Be Ready For This To Break To The Downside

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