In its recent second quarter financial report, US broker and advisory giant Charles Schwab has revealed that net new assets in its advisor services businesses fell 47 per cent to $7.7 billion, from $14.5 billion a year earlier, according to Investment News.

This deterioration continued a trend from the first quarter, when net new assets from advisors fell 52 per cent year-on-year to $9.6 billion.

Greg Gable, a spokesman at the firm, is quoted as saying: “The asset slowdown from advisors reflects their high net worth clients' reluctance to invest in a still-volatile market, the beginning of the traditional summertime investment doldrums and a disturbance in advisors' ability to prospect for business.”