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E*Trade Financial Corp.'s announcement of two very different acquisitions last week showed that the online brokerage industry is continuing both to consolidate and branch out in new directions. On Monday, the company revealed its $700 million purchase of online rival Harrisdirect from BMO Financial Group. On Tuesday, it said it was buying Kobren Insight Management, a private client asset manager and mutual fund adviser based in Wellesley, Mass., for an undisclosed price. Kobren manages about $1 billion for private clients.
The market reacted positively, as E*Trade's shares rose 1.6% Tuesday on the Kobren news. Analysts were generally enthusiastic about...