Gasparino Tweet: Goldman Mulls Buying An Online Trader

Shares in the three largest online brokers spiked Tuesday after a FBN journalist tweeted that managers at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) are mulling whether to jump into the field with an acquisition.

Charlie Gasparino tweeted:

interesting debate inside @GoldmanSachs over how to expand in asset/wealth mgt whether it shld buy a schwab or etrade or smaller variations

— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) July 29, 2014

E TRADE Financial (NASDAQ: ETFC) jumped nearly 2.5 percent and traded recently at $21; TD Ameritrade (NYSE: AMTD) was up more than one percent to $32.81 and spiked sharply, although its up just 0.6 percent recently at $28.08; and Charles Schwab (NYSE: SCHW) also spiked briefly, but was recently at $27.97, up 0.25 percent.

Goldman Sachs, with a market cap of more than $76 billion, is far larger than any of the online trading companies and has recently sought to diversify operations apart from investment banking.

Competitor Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), though significantly smaller than Goldman overall, recently reported quarterly revenue of $3.7 billion from its $2 trillion in wealth management unit. Goldman posted recent quarterly revenue of $1.4 billion on its $1.14 trillion of assets under management.