Discount brokerage firm Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW: sentiment, chart, options) queued up this morning to join the seemingly endless line of companies announcing job cuts. The firm said it will eliminate about 100 positions effective immediately, with most of the cuts affecting senior management. Additional payroll reductions will likely be made in the first half of 2009, said Schwab. The brokerage firm currently employs 13,500 workers.

The jobs cuts will translate to a pre-tax severance charge of $20 million for the current quarter. Chief Executive Walt Bettinger said he expects "stiff headwinds from an unprecedented financial environment," and added, "Protecting our financial strength and operating performance under these circumstances requires us to manage expenses even more aggressively in the months ahead."

In other Schwab news, the company reported today that daily average trades fell 18% last month to about 408,000. Total client assets dropped in November to $1.11 trillion, marking a year-over-year decline of 23%.

Following this onslaught of news, SCHW is holding close to breakeven in the first 2 hours of trading. In the options pits, volume is heavy on the call side. The stock's December 17.50 call has seen 1,047 contracts cross the tape on open interest of 4,552, while the January 2009 20 call has seen volume of 1,553 contracts on open interest of 8,658.