By Brett Philbin TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (AMTD) Chief Executive Fred Tomczyk said the online brokerage has averaged 319,000 client trades per day so far in July, a preliminary forecast that implies activity that slumped 12.4% from a year earlier, though down 2.7% month-to-month. During a conference call with analysts, Tomczyk said "this summer appears to look very similar to last year and the year before," adding that if current market conditions hold, it will "take some kind of event or action by our leaders to bring investors back into the market." Earlier Tuesday, the Omaha, Neb., company reported fiscal third-quarter net income that fell 2.3% from a year ago as trading activity slumped from a year earlier. TD Ameritrade, like its rivals Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) and E*Trade Financial Corp. (ETFC), has been hurt by weak trading volume amid concerns about Europe's debt woes and the global economy. For the quarter, TD Ameritrade posted average daily client trades of 355,000, down 4% from a year ago and 8.3% from the prior period. Shares of TD Ameritrade closed Monday up 0.2% at $16.40 and have climbed 5% year-to-date. Write to Brett Philbin at brett.philbin@dowjones.com
