Volume, Volume, Volume

The beleaguered online-brokerage sector sparked back to life suddenly Tuesday after National Discount Brokers Group said it would blow past third-quarter earnings estimates thanks to soaring trading activity by individual investors. NDB shares leaped a whopping $14.50, or 47%, to close at $45.50 on huge volume after the company said profit for its fiscal third quarter ending in February would come in between 95 cents and $1.05 a share--trouncing Wall Street’s 8-cent projection. Investors piled into e-brokerage shares amid euphoria that Charles Schwab, E-Trade Group, Ameritrade, DLJdirect, Knight/Trimark Group and others will report similar results.

The sector had been locked in a 10-month downtrend despite a surge in online trading volume since November. Big volume spikes in many stocks on Tuesday may indicate newfound momentum. But after rallying on trading-volume fervor in mid-November, investor enthusiasm petered out quickly and many stocks caved to new 52-week lows in recent weeks. The sector had a dramatic four-month rally beginning in December 1998, but burned itself out last April and gave way to a lengthy decline.

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NDB Stock: Daily Price Action Since Jan. 3 Volume, in millions of shares

Tuesday:

High: $46.00

Close: $45.50

Low: $36.69

Change: +14.50

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Volume, in millions of shares

2,036,700 shares

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Weekly closes since January 1999, and latest:

Tuesday: $45.50

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Source: Bridge News