Charles Schwab Corp. SCHW looked to reassure investors amid the crisis of investor confidence in the banking sector, saying it remained “a safe port in a storm.” The financial services and discount brokerage giant said Friday that it has seen “strong” inflows from clients in the past week, as it added a net $16.5 billion in new assets. “Charles Schwab remains a safe port in a storm, driven by its conservative balance sheet, strong liquidity position, and diversified base of over 34 million account holders who invest with Charles Schwab every day,” Schwab said in a statement. A number of Schwab’s executives and directors have put their money where those beliefs come from, as they have bought a total of nearly $7 million worth of shares over the past week. The comments comes as Schwab has been caught up in the selloff triggered by the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature BankSBNY, which led to SVB Financial Group’s SIVBbankruptcy on Friday. Meanwhile, the stock dropped 3.4% in afternoon trading Friday, while the Financial Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund XLF lost 2.9% and the S&P 500 SPX gave up 0.9%. While the Schwab’s stock has rallied 7.7% off the 2 1/2-year closing low of $51.91 on March 10, it has still tumbled 26.7% since SVB’s troubles became public.
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