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Strategies & Market Trends : MDA - Market Direction Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Les H who wrote (18320)	6/23/1999 7:34:00 PM
From: Giordano Bruno	Respond to of 99985

* OT * Too much is never enough... People will be able to get instant stock quotes and trades anytime day or night, he said, using computers, cellphones, pagers and hand-held organizers. They'll even be able to get personalized reports on the performance of their investments from their car radios and digital TVs at home, he said. Nasdaq Chief Expects 24-Hour Trades By Marcy Gordon AP Business Writer Wednesday, June 23, 1999; 4:52 p.m. EDT Nasdaq chief Frank Zarb has a vision of what the global stock market will be in a few years: digital, open 24 hours, letting people make trades instantly anywhere from their computers, cellphones, pagers and handheld organizers. In a speech Wednesday at the National Press Club, Zarb -- the chairman of the National Association of Securities Dealers, which operates the electronic Nasdaq Stock Market -- said officials are examining of number of structural shifts to allow it to compete in the market of the future. Zarb said NASD is considering separating out its regulatory division and merging it with the New York Stock Exchange's for both quality and financial reasons. Zarb also noted that Nasdaq was considering going private by selling stock in itself to key investment firms and possibly later to the public. The Nasdaq chief's comments come at a time when the global financial markets are expanding in an unprecedented manner. Only last week, Zarb announced last week plans to establish a trading exchange similar to Nasdaq's in Japan. Nasdaq also has set up a joint Web site with Hong Kong's stock exchange that will allow U.S. investors to trade in Hong Kong securities, has signed a similar deal with the Australian Stock Exchange, and is looking into new alliances in Europe. Zarb said extended trading hours soon will be a reality because ''investors want it. ... People want to be able to trade their personal stock portfolios at a time convenient to them.'' ''Ideally, extended hours shouldn't be implemented piecemeal by (stock) exchanges or the new electronic communications networks that trade stocks,'' Zarb urged in his speech. ''Investors would be best served if the industry could move to new hours in a coordinated way.'' The NYSE voted this month to extend trading hours, but not until the second half of next year. Before the NYSE expands its hours it wants first to ensure there are no glitches with the Year 2000 computer bug and the planned switch to reporting stock prices in decimals instead of fractions. The go-slow decision came a week after Nasdaq voted to begin extending its hours into the evening as soon as this fall. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which is expected to eventually approve proposals for extended trading hours, announced Wednesday it was convening a financial industry ''summit'' on the issue with Zarb's securities dealers' group and the NYSE. The June 30 meeting will be closed to the public and the press, an SEC spokeswoman said. The global expansion by the world's second-largest stock market has sharpened its competition with the largest, the NYSE, which uses a traditional trading floor. Nasdaq also recently took over the American Stock Exchange. The two exchanges may be able to help one another if they merged their regulatory operations, Zarb said. ''A high-tech, independent single regulator, jointly owned by the markets, with advanced electronic surveillance could be better for investors, markets and the securities industry. This could lessen costs and increase depth of regulation, as well as eliminate potential conflicts of interest between regulators and the stock markets. Officials at the NYSE had no immediate comment on the proposal. Zarb, looking a few years ahead, said ''trading floors and paper, for the most part, will be rendered obsolete by competition and technology. ... This 21st-century stock market will be ... computer screen-based, technology-driven and open to all -- all because people will have access to information that they want to act on.'' People will be able to get instant stock quotes and trades anytime day or night, he said, using computers, cellphones, pagers and hand-held organizers. They'll even be able to get personalized reports on the performance of their investments from their car radios and digital TVs at home, he said.