MARKET SAVVY : Savvy Confidential: A Briefing for Investors : Ticker Talk

Charles Schwab Corp. said Wednesday that it will cut commissions as much as 23%, to $29.95 a trade, for the 900,000 clients who use financial advisors to buy and sell stocks through the biggest discount and Internet brokerage. The new fee, effective Nov. 1, means Schwab’s institutional customers will pay the same fee as its individual clients. It replaces a minimum rate of $39 for clients who use advisors, though some have negotiated lower rates. . . . The National Assn. of Securities Dealers Inc. on Wednesday named one of its top officials, Salvatore Sodano, chairman and chief executive of the American Stock Exchange, the nation’s No. 3 stock market. Sodano, 43, has been Amex’s acting president since March.