-- Clarke Camper: Betting on the Obama-GOP compromise; Financing Small Business; Federal Deficit Commission Votes: Fleeting Moment or Historic First Step?; QE2: Not Everyone Thinks It’s a Loser

-- Bruce Boytim: Direct Market Access Resurfaces

-- Marisa Ricciardi: World AIDS Day at NYSE Euronext

-- Scott Cutler: Scott's State of the IPO Market on CNBC

-- Ali O'Rourke : Announcing Earnings; SEC Short Sale rule postponed; Data management company NetApp trading halted

-- Feargal O'Sullivan: Fresh Start - Quick Review

-- And Your Ol' Humbleness: Exchanges Move to Extend Individual-Stock Circuit Breakers; Trading Costs Decline Globally; Of Markets, Blogs and Renewal: Welcome to NYSE Exchanges

-- Not to mention the daily NYX 360 aggregation post. (No extra charge!)

In just a week's time, that's more bloggers on more topics than we've ever had before, and more are joining up all the time.

Drop a line and let us know what you think. Share a point of view. Be candid. Like, "Ray, I think there's way too much nose in your new photo." Go ahead, don't worry -- nothing I haven't heard before!

We're looking forward to talking with you on NYSE Exchanges.

What better time to blow it up and start anew?

The Exchanges blog ends today but is replaced – same day -- with one I expect will prove to be a much richer, more vibrant forum for conversation between NYSE Euronext and you, our community.

The url for this new blog platform called NYSE Exchanges is http://exchanges.nyx.com. Please join me in the Universal Prayer for Technology Launches that begins, “Lord, please let this thing please work, and give us the strength not to kill ourselves if it’s a little balky on Day One.” I ask you to please bear with any radio silence or difficulties that often accompany techbirth.

The NYSE Exchanges platform will make it much easier for us out other voices from our diverse businesses, from derivatives to equities to technologies. When you go to the new page, you’ll see that my own blog will be called Open Interest, and that our regular NYX 360 feature will spin out into its own blog. You can read more about what I’ll be focusing on in my first post on the “other side.” And you’ll begin seeing new blogs from a number of my BWCs (blog writing colleagues).

One more housekeeping item: Our subscription capability will not be ready on day one. I know that's user-unfriendly and I apologize for it, but for now I have to ask our loyal subscribers (and may I say, bless every one of you), to bear with the inconvenience of checking in on us when you can. Will keep you posted on our progress on that front; I'm told the ETA is sometime next month. Beyond that, we'll be trying to create content compelling enough that you'll want to come back again and again.

I kinda feel like the astronauts in “Apollo 13,” when they had to cut loose the lunar module that had kept them alive with makeshift solutions, but could not get them where they ultimately needed to go – back to Earth. They move into the re-entry capsule and look out the window at the lunar module drifting off into space and one of them says, “She sure was a good ship.”

That’s how I feel about Exchanges, and HybridTalk before it. No, not that they saved my life. But in a few weeks we will let the archives of Exchanges and HybridTalk go dark, out of necessity, and I feel a keen sense of gratitude for their getting us to where we are today – a new beginning. So before cutting all of this loose and moving on, let me say some quick words of appreciation:

• My colleagues who built and maintained Exchanges and HybridTalk created something that had never been done by an exchange company, and helped show how we can communicate in a new, more engaging way through technology.

• Many colleagues helped me field detailed questions and explain the evolution of our markets over these last five years. Out of the 1,291 posts on HybridTalk and Exchanges (a tick better than one per business day), I’d guesstimate that at least 25 percent required at least some fact checking if not an hour or two of a colleague’s time to explain something like how a particular order works. Their generosity with their time and expertise helped demystify markets.

• Other colleagues did manage to add their own voices to Exchanges, which required endless patience with its clunky internal permissioning and interface. They began to demonstrate the depth and breadth of our people and businesses, and I look forward to seeing them and many others on NYSE Exchanges. Also, props to our lawyers, who gave us guidance and trusted the reins in our hands.

• Most of all, our readers. For putting up with my bad jokes. For helping me learn new points of view about markets. For all the calls, e-mails and comments that let me know that someone out there besides my Uncle Johnny was reading. For stopping me at conferences and saying things like one trader actually said: “Hey, you’re that crazy SOB who blogs for the New York!” Blogging is not a sprint but a marathon, and all of that is all that ever keeps me going.

As the Wall Street saying goes, the tape keeps moving, right to left. Time to put this one on the tape, and keep moving. As always, your comments are welcome on the space below. Thanks again, and see you on the new NYSE Exchanges platform!

Friday, 3 December, 2010

BlueNext exchange introduces spot emissions-reduction units (Bloomberg)

NYSE Euronext to present at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Securities Brokerage and Market Structure conference (NYX)

Exchanges reportedly seeking to extend pilot for single-stock circuit breakers (Bloomberg)

NYSE Christmas tree lighting next Tuesday! (NYX)

On this day in 1927: To avoid stock ticker delays, an abbreviated system of reporting quotes was inaugurated that omitted the leading figure of the stock price during heavy trading. (NYX)

Thursday, 2 December, 2010

Currency trader FXCM rises in NYSE debut (Reuters)

Spanish media giant Prisa to list on NYSE on Friday (AFP/Expatica)

EU plans to curb off-exchange markets (FT Trading Room)

Electronic trading grows at NYSE Amex options (Traders)

Medifast and Marines storm NYSE for Toys for Tots (Medifast)

NYSE Euronext to announces fourth-quarter and full-year 2010 earnings on 8 Feb. 2100 (NYX)

And, we'll present at Goldman Sachs U.S. Financial Services Conference (NYX)

"In Paris, Brussels, Lisbon, and Amsterdam, Light for Rights coalition partners rang the opening bells of each city’s NYSE Euronext exchanges" (United Nations)

NYSE lit in red for World AIDS Day (Getty/India Times)

Scenes from a trading floor (AP/ABC)

The Bettys elf themselves with OfficeMax at NYSE (Betty Confidential)
Now, could someone please explain to me who the Bettys are?

Wednesday, 1 December, 2010

Exchanges race to cut trading-data lag (WSJ)

UBS announces UBS E-TRACS Daily Long-Short VIX ETN (UBS)

IPO money raised in quarter nears global record (WSJ)

Walker & Dunlop set to raise more than expected from IPO (WSJ)

Swift Transportation sets terms for $942 million IPO (Reuters)

Avalon Rare Metals to list on NYSE Amex (Avalon)

Options trading up 33% in November, biggest jump this year (Bloomberg)

Liza fist pumps at NYSE for World AIDS Day (Gothamist)

On this day in 1874, regular trading hours were established at NYSE: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays; 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays. (NYX)

Tuesday, 30 November, 2010

FXFM plans to sell 15.1 million shares in NYSE-listed IPO for $13-$15 each, raising up to $225.9M (Canadian Business/AP)

Citi to ring the Bell to celebrate NYSE Arca listing of C-Tracks exchange traded notes (Citi)

College student wins 'money makeover' competition sponsored by HigherOne and NYSE Euronext (News Gnomes)

Liza Minelli, Kenneth Cole, Cheyenne Jackson add star power to amfAR's AIDS Day bell at NYSE (NYX)

Credit default swaps on the wane, for now (FT Alphaville/Bloomberg)

Scenes from (outside) a trading floor (Bernard Oh/Flickr)

Excavating finance's past: what lessons does history hold for today's advisors (Research magazine/AdvisorOne)

On this day in 1964, an NYSE study of block transactions revealed the average block trade involved 26,100 shares, valued at $948,200. (NYX)

Monday, 29 November, 2010

Scott Cutler: Best IPO window this year is coming up (WSJ)

Women's Bond Club, NYSE Euronext host diversity roundtable (WBC)

NYSE, other global landmarks to be lit in (RED) on World AIDS Day, 1 Dec.(Join RED)
At NYSE Euronext we'll be wearing red too, to show our support!

Climate bourses eyeing China carbon market (Commodity Online)

GM's $23.5 billion IPO is biggest ever (Bloomberg/AFR)

Targa Resources commences IPO (Targa press release)

Photo gallery from the GM IPO (Vancouver Sun)

Kid Dynamite on understanding GLD, part 3 (Seeking Alpha)

The president's daily market report (Felix Salmon/Reuters)

Scenes from a trading floor, on Kids Day (AP/Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette)

Laughs of the day courtesy of the late, great Leslie Nielsen (Paul Kedrosky)

I was privileged to be at the Opening Bell ceremony yesterday for World AIDS Day (the day is today; yesterday was a curtain raiser). A group of about 40 people gathered in our Board Room before the bell, including Liza Minelli, a longtime AIDS research advocate; the designer Kenneth Cole (disclosure: he chairs the eponymous NYSE-listed company, as well as the leading research organization amfAR); members of our GLBT employee resource group and others.

There's a certain buzz and excitement when you're in the same room as Liza Minelli, but there was a sobering purpose to the proceedings. In his welcoming remarks, our COO Larry Leibowitz commented that AIDS has been with us so long now (about three decades) that today it is too often overlooked. But AIDS is still widespread, still deadly, and still growing. So it is incumbent on all of us to use AIDS Day to highlight the importance of finding a cure, promoting prevention and supporting those who are dealing with AIDS and HIV.

According to amfAR, in the nearly 30 years since the first AIDS cases were identified, more than 60 million people have contracted HIV, and more than 25 million have died from AIDS-related causes. Some 1.8 million died in 2009; of those, 260,000 of them were under the age of 15.

There are now more than 33 million people living with HIV or AIDS. And every day, there are more: more than 7,000 people contract HIV on average each day. That's 300 every hour.

Those of us in business have powerful motivation to join the fight against HIV and AIDS: These diseases directly impact our employees, our customers, and more broadly all of the communities in which we operate. Just as important: We have the resources to make an impact.

How can you help? On the company level, there's the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (disclosure: NYSE Euronext is a member). On the individual level, you can support the research led by amfAR. On World AIDS Day, let's remember that there's still a need, and that all of us can make a positive difference.

The New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, Sport Illustrated's "Sportsman of the Year," drew a crowd on the NYSE trading floor a couple of hours ago, talking with CNBC about the power of persistence. I'm a Packers fan, but more power to him.

From Marisa Ricciardi:

‘Twas a month before Christmas, and on the Trading Floor
Excitement was stirring, that’s what holidays are for.

A wreath of paperclips was hung in the air
For all to admire, OfficeMax proudly was there.

75 dancing elves stormed the floor and sang
“Jingle Bells” as the Closing Bell rang.

They twirled and shimmied and created such cheer
For NYSE employees that will last all year!

The dancing was done and it was time to go
To Experience Square for a final ho-ho-ho.

The elves exclaimed as they danced out of sight
"Happy holidays to all, and to all a good-night."

Friday, 26 November, 2010

Former Executive Producer of The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Robin Hall, executive producer Amy Kule, and minions from 'Despicable Me' celebrate the 84th Thanksgiving Day Parade at NYSE (Getty)

NYSE Euronext to launch 6 new strategy indices (NYX)

Inphi shares climb on first day (Pacific Coast Business Times)

Dangdang sets price for IPO (China Knowledge)

iSoftStone eyes U.S. listing (Zephyr)

First Republic files for IPO (Bloomberg)

The entrepreneurship economic revolution (Steve Blank, hat tip Paul Kedrosky and A VC)

World intrudes on shortened 'turkey session' (WSJ)
And me, I'm still shaking off the effects of the annual tryptophan overdose. Have a good weekend, my friends.

Wednesday, 24 November 2010

Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, center, with his wife Jennifer, left, is applauded by NYSE traders. (AP Photo from Pottstown Mercury)

Consolidated Tape in a millisecond coming to U.S. next year (Securities Technology Monitor)

NYSE Euronext plans global network of trading hubs (WSJ)
Can I be the PR guy for the hub in Hawaii? Bermuda? Tahiti? Aw, c'mon!

Syswin IPO shares start trading on NYSE (RTT)

China Xiniya Fashion launches IPO on NYSE (Trading Markets)

Kinder Morgan going public again (24/7 Wall St.)

U.S. carbon trading centers on California (WSJ)

New volatility-linked ETNs to debut on NYSE on 30 Nov. (John Lothian Newsletter)

Patrick Galley explains closed-end funds (WSJ)

First living Medal of Honor recipient from Afghan/Iraq wars rings NYSE bell (AP via the Mercury)

Soldiers making the best of it prove that Thanksgiving is what you make of it, wherever you are (Dow Jones)
A joyous Thanksgiving holiday to all of you and yours!

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

Foreign-exchange trading platform FXCM plans IPO this week (Canadian Business)

Battle to list IPOs goes from Silicon Valley to China (WSJ VentureBeat)

Consolidated Tape in a millisecond coming to U.S. next year (Securities Technology Monitor)

Strong growth in trading of African stocks and listing of African funds in NYSE Euronext markets (AllAfrica.com)

NYSE Euronext among honorees at NGLCC awards (Washington Blade)

Number of Americans ignoring their finances doubled in 2010 (WalletPop/hat tip Felix Salmon)

More on our plans to launch a consolidated tape in Europe (FT Trading Room, A-Team)

On this day in 1954, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above its 1929 peak for the first time -- 381.17 (NYX). -- Wow, that took 25 years.

Monday, 22 November 2010

Video embedded above: our Scott Cutler talks with CNBC about the state of the IPO market.

NYSE Euronext to launch consolidated tape for European equity markets (NYX)

IPOs hope to catch GM draft (WSJ)

Behind the scenes at the GM IPO ceremonies (Detroit News)

PE Hub talks with our Doug Chu about China and the U.S. capital markets (PE Hub)

From last Friday's NYX Investor Day in London:
NYSE Euronext plans to clear OTC equity derivatives (Bloomberg)
NYSE Euronext may make tech, IT acquisitions (Bloomberg)

ETF's firm foundations (Big Picture/Index Universe)

Scenes from a trading floor (Reuters/ABC)

Michael Perino on how the Percora Commission changed American finance (US News & World Report)
-- "There were many people who believed that regulating the NYSE was unconstitutional."

Consolidated market data – the trades and "quotes" (the current best bid and offer) from the various stock exchanges combined into a single stream of data – is delivered to the public more slowly than the individual direct feeds from the exchanges of their own quotes and trades, because the process of consolidation takes time.

But there’s good news on this front: following significant investment by the exchanges, consolidated feeds are now faster than ever, and getting faster still. Latency of consolidated data is expected to be less than one millisecond by the middle of next year, compared with about one second just three years ago.

All stoked about that?

OK, I know, data latency is not the sexiest subject in finance. But stay with me for a minute, this stuff is actually important.

We’re also increasing transparency around the speed of consolidated data, so as to increase understanding and eliminate confusion about this important but often-overlooked aspect of our equities markets.

Background

Before getting into how these changes are taking place, some quick background:

Most investors are familiar with basic price information used for trading stocks – the “ticker” of last-sale prices and the quotation of the current best bid and offer. This type of data is ubiquitous, appearing in various forms on TV and computer screens, newspaper stock tables, and electronic tickers commonly seen in many businesses and public places.

Where does this data come from? The Consolidated Tape Association (CTA) is at the center of the process of producing it. The CTA oversees the dissemination of real-time trade and quote information in securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Arca and NYSE Amex. The New York Stock Exchange and NYSE Amex act as the administrators for the CTA for NYSE- and NYSE Amex-listed issues, respectively. Securities Industry Automation Corp. (SIAC), a subsidiary of NYSE Euronext, acts as the “securities information processor” (SIP), which means that SIAC maintains the systems that consolidate the data from the various markets.

As the SIP, SIAC produces and disseminates single, consolidated streams containing quotes and trade prices from every market, and calculates the current consolidated and individual exchange high, low and last prices and the National Best Bid & Offer (NBBO), which is the highest bid and lowest offer on any exchange. This process includes consolidating the information from 14 exchanges and market centers, calculating the high, low, last and NBBO from that information, storing all transaction data, creating messages for the data feeds, and transmitting hundreds of millions of messages worldwide to various distribution channels, including data vendors, brokers, news media, and the Internet. This is all done in a matter of milliseconds, or thousandths of a second.

It’s also important to point out there are two aspects of speed – order acknowledgment latency and market data latency – and the former usually is the main focus. Order acknowledgment latency is the round-trip time it takes to process and acknowledge, fill or cancel an order. Market data latency is the time it takes to process and disseminate quotes and trades via the market data streams.

Getting Ahead of Message Traffic Growth

OK, you waded through that, here’s where the story gets more exciting. Or at least, less boring.

In recent years, the explosion in the number of quotes, trades and even trading venues made it a challenge for the CTA exchanges to keep the consolidated feeds as current as possible. Peak message traffic on the Consolidated Quotation System increased to 298,500 messages per second in 2010, or nearly triple the 2009 peak of 104,300 messages per second. Traffic on the Consolidated Tape System (the stream of the most recent trade prices) more than doubled in the same period, to 49,600 messages per second from 19,400.

Against that backdrop, the CTA exchanges have been investing in hardware – new computer servers and networks – with greater capacity for throughput, and we’re continuing to step up that investment into 2011. The migration of SIAC’s servers to a new industry-leading data center in Mahwah, N.J. last August also was a powerful contributor to reducing latency.

Average Latency of Consolidated Market Data Feeds

ms=millisecond
Data for December through June are projected.
Latency is measured from the time messages are received by the SIP to when the results are sent out.

Advances in Capacity Planning and Transparency

Not all the enhancements are in hardware. With trading and data systems continuing to get faster, the CTA exchanges are also taking a more granular approach to planning future system capacity. In the past, we estimated our future capacity needs based on message peaks over a five-second period of time; starting on 1 January 2011, we’ll begin using a one-second interval, which more exactly reflects actual system utilization during bursts of traffic.

This blog post – scintillating though the subject matter is – represents only the beginning of much greater transparency from the CTA exchanges on the subject. We’re reporting our latency statistics on a monthly basis to the Financial Information Forum for public posting, and to the FISD (the Financial Information Services Division of the Software and Information Industry Association) and as part of the capacity planning process notices to the CTA data recipients. Our projections for message traffic are posted on our data website, and other communications are in the planning stages.

As you can see, we’ve been working for some time and have made a great deal of progress on cutting down the latency of consolidated feeds, and we’ll keep at it. We’ll also keep everyone posted on our progress and performance.

]]> http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/data_latency.php http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/data_latency.php NYSE Euronext Tue, 23 Nov 2010 10:48:20 -0500

Here's a time-lapse video of how it's done, overnight. A 30-second glimpse behind the scenes.

Looks like it was windy as all get-out, but the show (and the IPO) must go on, so the workers just deal and get it done. Up goes the huge banner in the wee hours of the chill night. Out come the showcase GM cars lining Broad Street beneath the facade. And come morning, out comes the initial public offering of General Motors.

]]> http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/how_do_they.php http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/how_do_they.php NYSE Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:53:45 -0500 NYX 360 aggregates news, views and just-plain-interesting stuff from within and without NYSE Euronext (NYX). We add items throughout the week, so you can check back for updates any time.

Thursday, 18 November 2010

Two words today: General. Motors.

E*Trade, NYSE Liffe US combine efforts to connect, educate individual investors (NYX)

Stanley Young on how financial firms can tap NYSE Technologies' community cloud (Tabb Forum)

Booz Allen, Bitauto make IPO gains (WSJ; Washington Post)

Online retailer Dangdang files for IPO to raise $200 million (TMT China)

Buy and hold strategy: still a winner (Burton Malkiel/WSJ)

Scenes from a trading floor (AP/ABC, Reuters/IBT, AP/Yahoo!)

Wednesday, 17 November 2010

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. priced its IPO of at least 14 million shares at $17 each Tuesday (WSJ)

The official NYSE notices for the pending General Motors IPO (NYSE Trader Update)

Aeroflex Inc., which makes electronic components for wireless communications networks, plans to raise up to $268 million with an IPO Friday (ABC)

Larry Leibowitz on the evolving role of exchanges (FT Trading Room; video on right)

'Movers and Changers' kick off Global Entrepreneurship Week (NYX)

We're a sponsor of the Intel Capital CEO Summit, where $77 million of investments in innovative companies were just announced (Intel)

Also sponsoring Commodities Week Asia 2011 next April -- mark your calendar! (Conference site)

Can someone explain the benefits of high-frequency trading? Why yes! (FT Trading Room)

Why the Wall Street Journal used to live next to the NYSE (Urban Media Archeology)

Scenes from a trading floor (NYT, World Photos)

Try your hand at writing photo captions for the Economist (Economist)

Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Dominique Cerutti: “Opacity should be controlled and maintained where it has value, for example in block trades, but you cannot control and supervise what you do not see, and that is bad for the market and for investors.” (Financial News)

GETCO to be designated market maker for General Motors' IPO (WSJ)

Youko, Chinese Internet TV company, files for IPO to list on NYSE (24/7 Wall Street)

REIT CEOs at NYSE: It's good to be public (GlobeSt.com)

Pun patrol: cleverest Beatles-iTunes headlines/lead sentences:
Beatles finally for sale on Apple's iTunes store (FT)
Apple: Get your Beates eight days a week via iTunes (NBC Bay Area)
The Beatles and Apple Inc. have finally come together (WSJ SpeakEasy)
Working it out, iTunes to sell Beatles titles (NYT)

Monday, 15 November, 2010

GM IPO: What's in a ticker? Quite a lot, actually (WSJ)

Booz Allen Hamilton $250 million IPO also expected this week (MarketWatch)

KEMET Corp. back on NYSE (Global Print Monitor)

France Biotech, NYSE Euronext announce successful Life Sciences Day (NYX)

SEC forum to discuss capital formation for small businesses (SEC)

Scenes from a trading floor (Reuters via ABC)

Fragmentation an issue in Web apps, too (A VC)
Sounds a lot like the issues affecting our financial markets, yes?

On this day in 1867, the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company was granted permission to operate the first stock tickers between the NYSE and offices of members on an experimental basis. (NYX)
Fortunately, the experiment worked!

]]> http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/nyx_360_1519_november_2010.php http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/nyx_360_1519_november_2010.php NYSE Euronext Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:20:08 -0500 Friday, 12 November 2010

Duncan Niederauer with U.S. Marine Corps Brigadier General Steven W. Busby and three of the Navajo Code Talkers; see items below (Richard Drew, Associated Press via Kansas City.com)

SemGroup shares rise in first day of trading on NYSE (Tulsa World)

InPhi price at top of range, continues to do well at NYSE (NYSE Silicon Valley)

Scare tactics on ETFs plain wrong (Index Universe)

Navajo code talkers ring NYSE bell (Fox Business)

The amazing ingenuity of the Navajo code talkers (USA Today)

Veterans Day events across the US (photos 39, 44, 57 and 59 are from NYSE) (AP via Kansas City.com)

NYSE Euronext to present at Bank of America Merrill Lynch conference (NYX)

Book claim: New York Times' economic coverage is pro-business (Talking Biz News)

Happy 65th birthday, Neil Young, socio-economics commentator

Thursday, 11 November 2010

This morning, pause for a cause: remember our veterans (NYSE Trader Update, also see my exchange with Bruce on the subject)

Chinese real-estate services provider Syswin prices IPO (WSJ)

Noah Holdings rises 33 percent in NYSE debut (Reuters)

CFTC sets date for swaps proposals (FT Trading Room)

Trader's toolbox of indices, including NYSE Tick (TheStreet.com)

Bank of International Settlements cautions on structures -- not ownership -- of clearing (FT Trading Room)

Qatar Exchange named 'exchange of the year' (Gulf Times)

Goizueta rings the NYSE bell (Emory)

Scenes from a trading floor (and outside) (Reuters, Reuters via ABC)

A much-needed stylebook for financial writing (Talking Biz News)

On this day in 1918, the NYSE closed to mark the end of World War I. Ticker tape and confetti rained down on the financial district in a spontaneous celebration. (NYX)

Wednesday, 10 November 2010

Noah Holdings, independent seller of wealth management products to wealthy clients in China, raises about $100 million, or 20% more than expected, in IPO that listed on NYSE today (Reuters)

Marsh Carter: Next generation of leaders may face tests to ethical standards (Omaha World Herald)

Portfolio margining: Will we have cross-margining in 2011? (Futures Industry)

NYPC's Walt Lukken, others discuss potential gridlock for financial rulemakers (FT)

SemGroup to begin trading Thursday on NYSE (Tulsa World)

Holiday schedule for 2011 for our European and U.S. markets

Ruth Porat, Morgan Stanley's CFO, looking to succeed where other Wall Street women have not (NYT)

On this day in 1987: NYSE trading floor and clerical workers went on strike for three days. (NYX)
This was still very much top of mind when I joined NYSE in April 1988. We "management" types underwent regular training on the floor so we could step in and record trades and quotes in the event of such an emergency. I have to tell you, the thought of this onetime communications major having to correctly pick up the details of trades that were called out verbally and rapidly in traderspeak, and then putting those details up on the tape quickly, was a bit scary to me and probably absolutely terrifying to the traders around me during my fortunately brief training stints. Somehow the market (and I) survived.

Tuesday, 9 November 2010

NYSE Liffe U.S. launches incentive programs supporting trader education and providing cost-effective access for international customers (NYX)

Navajo Code Talkers to participate in Veterans Day observance at NYSE (Tulsa Native American Times)

NYSE Euronext Foundation renews support for Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (SYS.con)

Will women save more than men? (Reuters; includes bonus scenes-from-a-trading-floor photo)

A good day for Chile yesterday (NYSE Silicon Valley)

Monday, 8 November 2010

NYX 360 aggregates news, views and just-plain-interesting stuff from within and without NYSE Euronext. We add items throughout the week, so you can check back for updates any time.

Booz Allen files to raise $266 million in IPO -- NYSE: BAH! (GovCon)

NYSE Euronext transaction report for October: global derivatives and U.S. options up; global equities down vs. prior year but up from September (NYX)

Protect your ETFs from a flash crash (USA Today)

Larry Tabb: Balancing the needs of traders and issuers in a fragmented market (Tabb Forum)

SEC readying new market safeguards (Reuters)

No evidence of quote stuffing on May 6, SEC official says (Bloomberg)

Knight embraces NYSE floor with Kellogg (Wall Street Letter; no link)

Thomson Reuters enhancing European tape (FT Trading Room, WSJ)

World 'big enough' for spate of dairy futures (AgriMoneyy)

Three issues posed by greater interoperability (Financial News)
And a fourth issue: "interoperability" is hard to spell, say and remember!

France Biotech day in Paris tomorrow (NYX)

Top 10 CIOs on Wall Street, including our own Steve Rubinow (Securities Technology Monitor)

Whirlpool to unveil 100th-anniversary logo, on facade of NYSE (Whirlpool)

Kristen McLellan's idea for the MTVu-NYSE Business Competition: sun-screen booth (Cornell Daily Sun)

Beautiful photo of the day: a different kind of "Safe Harbor," by Tom Doyle (Cornwall Local)

]]> http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/nyx_360_812_november_2010.php http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/nyx_360_812_november_2010.php NYSE Euronext Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:50:29 -0500

American Express is launching a new program to encourage shoppers to support local businesses during the holidays. Ed Gilligan, vice chairman of American Express, explains the initiative to CNBC.

]]> http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/newsmakers_nyse_amex.php http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/newsmakers_nyse_amex.php Listed Companies Tue, 09 Nov 2010 17:39:39 -0500 You might recall the commotion a couple of months weeks ago on the question of "Can an ETF Collapse?" An academic paper prompted a great deal of discussion until knowledgable people gained their voice and began explaining, in this space and others, that the concerns raised in the paper were baseless.

Well, here we go again.

Today the Kauffman Foundation issued a paper asserting that ETFs "are distorting the markets to such an extent that they are threatening the growth of new companies by effectively curtailing their access to capital."

That's a serious accusation from serious people at a serious institution and must be taken -- you guessed it -- seriously. My colleagues familiar with the ETF space are reviewing the 60-plus-page paper, and I expect we'll be hearing from them soon.

In the meantime, Dave Nadig of Index Universe pokes what I believe are the first holes in the Kauffman paper's argument. In all the coverage I've seen today of the subject -- including this Cramer segment on CNBC -- I haven't heard anyone raise or respond to the point that Nadig raises here:

One of Kauffman’s many issues with ETFs is that they somehow pose a giant blowup risk for investors; that their value may simply disappear in a pile of grief and confusion. The report continuously refers to them as derivatives, a loaded word in today’s markets. They raise the specter of the government having to step in and rescue shareholders when an ETF issuer fails.

Here’s the logic of how they see an ETF issuer failing:

“In creating more ETF units, ETF sponsors are liable to purchase the underlying securities, and so the more units that are created, the greater are these purchase obligations. Yet because the underlying securities are in short supply, mounting obligations of ETF sponsors to purchase them exposes the sponsors to the risk that the cash they have on hand will be insufficient, at the sharply higher prices of the underlying securities, to cover those purchases and thus track the index.” Page 38

The levels of “Wrong!” in here are deep and profound. It reflects a serious misunderstanding of how ETFs work.

With the exception of a very few funds that rely exclusively on cash creations, ETF issuers are not “liable” to make any purchases whatsoever when new shares are created. The whole point of the ETF structure is to keep the fund (and thus the investor) from being on the hook for any transactions at all.

Kauffman mostly focuses on the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSEArca: IWM), and on small-cap ETFs in general. To make new shares of IWM, an authorized participant has to deliver a specific basket of stocks to BlackRock. How does he do that? Most likely he puts in a market-on-close order to buy a big basket of stocks, which he knows—by definition—will be priced at the same closing price as represented in IWM.

If the AP can’t go buy shares of the stocks in the basket, he can’t make new shares of IWM. Assuming he can, everything works out fine: IWM gets the equity shares it needs, and the AP gets the IWM he wants.

Nowhere in this is there any risk to the existing IWM shareholder. IWM didn’t take a big pile of cash at the end of the day, and then have an obligation to race into the market tomorrow and get those stocks at any cost.

No, that nightmare scenario exists in a different vehicle: the traditional open-ended mutual fund.

More to come.

]]> http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/a_first_critique_of_questions_about_etfs.php http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/a_first_critique_of_questions_about_etfs.php ETFs / Indexes Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:23:11 -0500 Here's an important development announced today: the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved proposals by the exchanges to strengthen the obligations of market makers. This means consistent minimum quoting standards across markets, and the elimination of so-called "stub quotes." All of this goes into effect on 6 Dec.

From the SEC's announcement:

A stub quote is an offer to buy or sell a stock at a price so far away from the prevailing market that it is not intended to be executed, such as an order to buy at a penny or an offer to sell at $100,000. A market maker may enter stub quotes to nominally comply with its obligation to maintain a two-sided quotation at those times when it does not wish to actively provide liquidity. Executions against stub quotes represented a significant proportion of the trades that were executed at extreme prices on May 6, and subsequently broken.

"By prohibiting stub quotes, we are reducing the risk that trades will be executed at irrational prices, and then need to be broken, if the markets become volatile," said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. "While we continue to look at other potential obligations for market participants, this is an important step in our effort to improve the functioning of the U.S. markets, and restore investor confidence following the events of May 6."

The new rules address the problem of stub quotes by requiring market makers in exchange-listed equities to maintain continuous two-sided quotations during regular market hours that are within a certain percentage band of the national best bid and offer (NBBO). The band would vary based on different criteria:
• For securities subject to the circuit breaker pilot program approved this past summer, market makers must enter quotes that are not more than 8% away from the NBBO.
• For the periods near the opening and closing where the circuit breakers are not applicable, that is before 9:45 a.m. and after 3:35 p.m., market makers in these securities must enter quotes no further than 20% away from the NBBO.
• For exchange-listed equities that are not included in the circuit breaker pilot program, market makers must enter quotes that are no more than 30% away from the NBBO.
• In each of these cases, a market maker's quote will be allowed to "drift" an additional 1.5% away from the NBBO before a new quote within the applicable band must be entered.

So no more trades in a $40 stock taking place at 1 cent or $999.

As mentioned here when the exchanges first proposed tightening the market-making obligations, May 6 had multiple causes and preventing another requires a series of safeguards. As the SEC puts it today:

Since May 6, the Commission has taken several steps to reduce the chance that the events of that day would happen again. Among other things, the Commission:
• approved the above-mentioned circuit breaker pilot program, in which trading would pause if a stock price moved more than 10% in five minutes. That program now applies to stocks in the S&P 500 or the Russell 1000, as well as certain exchange-traded products.
• approved new rules requiring the exchanges to clarify up-front how and when trades would be broken.
• proposed a new rule that would require the self regulatory organizations to establish a consolidated audit trail system the would enable regulators to track information related to trading orders received and executed across the securities markets.
• adopted rules that would effectively prohibit broker-dealers from providing their customers with unfiltered access to exchanges and alternative trading systems by assuring that broker-dealers implement appropriate risk controls.

At Chairman Schapiro's request, Commission staff is continuing to evaluate further initiatives to address market structure issues revealed by the events of May 6 such as refining the single stock circuit breakers by incorporating a limit-up/limit-down type mechanism.

This is all vitally important; collectively we need to continue working toward regaining investor confidence by improving the reliability and integrity of our markets. That, in turn, will help strengthen our markets' role in raising capital, a critical function for economic growth. NYSE Euronext is continuing to work closely with the SEC and other exchanges toward these goals.

]]> http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/no_more_stub.php http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/no_more_stub.php NYSE Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:06:44 -0500

From my RMCs (Relationship Management colleagues):

Here's the report on NYSE Amex trading activity in Nasdaq-listed securities where market share was 3% or more on 4 November, 2010.

• NYSE Amex had greater than 3% share in 61 securities and NYSE Amex had greater than 5% share or more in 10 securities.

• Of the 61 securities, 12 had market volumes of 1 million or more, and 3 had market volumes of 3 million or more.

• The top three stocks PPHM (59.0%), HSNI (12.9%) and HLCS (8.8%).

In addition to the growing liquidity, take advantage of NYSE Amex's attractive rates. On 1 October, Amex UTP’s (for the newbies out there, that's Unlisted Trading Privileges) rebate for customers providing liquidity increased to $0.0030 per share from $0.0019, including displayed and non-displayed orders for stocks priced above $1. The fee for customers taking liquidity increased to $0.0023 per share from $0.0013.

NYSE Amex is now offering a block rebate of $0.0036 per share in Tape C securities (that's Nasdaq-listed issues) to all clients that display large liquidity. The block rebate is paid to orders that provide liquidity and originally display a minimum of 5,000 shares in stocks priced at least $5.00 per share.

And that photo at top? For all you Yankee fans out there. Even you Yankee haters. You have to admit, "61*" was a great flick about a great moment in baseball history.

]]> http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/heres_yesterdays_nyse_amex_volume_in_nasdaqlisted_issues.php http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2010/11/heres_yesterdays_nyse_amex_volume_in_nasdaqlisted_issues.php NYSE Amex Fri, 05 Nov 2010 15:26:41 -0500