Shares of Nasdaq market maker Knight/Trimark ended 17.6 percent higher Thursday on a "second kiss" from Merrill Lynch, which has signed an agreement to clear and settle Knight's trades.
Also boosting shares of Knight as well as a batch of online brokers, like E-Trade (EGRP: news, msgs), Charles Schwab (SCH: news, msgs) and Ameritrade (AMTD: news, msgs): Rising trading
volumes on the Nasdaq stock market. The group's stocks are off sharply from the year's highs, its prices tracking volume in Internet and technology shares to some degree.
Cost savings, Knight said in a statement it will clear and settle its securities trades through Broadcort Capital Corp., a unit of Merrill Lynch (MER: news, msgs). Terms weren't released, but Jefferies analyst Charlotte Chamberlain is estimating annual savings of 6 cents a share at Knight for moving its business to Broadcort. Knight's shares jumped 6 to 40 as speculation about a wider Merrill-Knight partnership grew. The two are already linked through Brass Utility Systems, or Brut, a minor electronic stock matching platform.
"This is a huge opportunity for Knight to do additional retail business for Merrill," as the brokerage giant heads online, Chamberlain said. Knight is the largest market maker in Nasdaq shares. Merrill rose 1 1/8 to 79 5/8.
Knight's recent efforts to operate out of Europe are also a
focus of the clearing deal with Merrill. CEOs Kenneth Pasternak called Merrill's product lines like options and international network "particularly attractive for Knight," which opened an office in London this year.
Knight Securities executed over 15.4 million trades in the
second quarter, the firm .... the rest is missing |
