NYSE, Nasdaq mergers seen changing landscape

NYSE, Nasdaq mergers seen changing landscape - Banks - Financial - Financial Services - IPOs - M&A - Markets/Exchanges - Market News

A follow-up on last week's the announcements of the NYSE and NAsdaq.

"By Steve Gelsi, MarketWatch
Last Update: 2:30 PM ET April 28, 2005

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- With the financial markets business weighing the New York Stock Exchange's planned $3 billion combination with Archipelago, as well as the Nasdaq's pending $1.9 billion purchase of Instinet, specialty companies and many others are reassessing their roles in an increasingly electronic trading world."

Short version: much change is on the horizon. Indeed the future of the trading floor is by no means a foregone conclusion.

Some highlights:

* "You're looking at an environment where everything is in play," said Chris Nagy, managing director of order routing for Ameritrade (AMTD: news, chart, profile) . "Everyone is posturing to be a leader in this new market structure.""

*"The Nasdaq and the NYSE will finally catch up to innovation in the industry after electronic communication networks and other players led the way in recent years"

*"Meanwhile, the fate of the NYSE-Archipelago deal is under fire as board member Kenneth Langone attempts to pick up support for a rival plan to buy the Big Board. See full story"

*"Ingrid Werner, professor of the Fisher School of Business at Ohio State University, said questions remain about the role of NYSE's two surviving independent specialist firms...[and added] Overall, the NYSE's move illustrates the advantages of demutualization to increase transparency, raise capital for technological improvements and increase the speed the process for future changes, according to Werner."

Read the entire article here.

Thanks MarkP for the heads up on this one!