Despite recent bumps, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 indexes rose roughly 12%, excluding reinvested dividends, in the first half of 2013. The performance of many broker-dealers, though, sharply outpaced the major indexes.
The iShares Dow Jones U.S. broker-dealer ETF (IAI) moved up an impressive 28% in the same period, with some firms topping returns of 40%.
The SPDR S&P Capital Markets ETF (KCE) also outpaced the major indexes moving up roughly 18%.
Wirehouse broker-dealers had mixed results. Shares of Morgan Stanley (MS), which recently said it would soon purchase its final stake in the Morgan Stanley-Smith Barney joint venture, has risen 25.5% this year.
Wells Fargo (WFC) has improved about 18%.
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BAC), however, moved up just 7.5%, while UBS (UBS) ticked up only 5%.
The independent broker-dealers had a stellar first half. Charles Schwab (SCHW), for example, soared 41%, as did TD Ameritrade (AMTD).
