The buyer, IntercontinentalExchange Inc. of Atlanta, says little would change for the trading floor.
The corporate logo of the NYSE is displayed on a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The Big Board is being sold to a rival exchange for about $8 billion, ending more than two centuries of independence for the iconic exchange. The buyer, IntercontinentalExchange Inc., an upstart exchange based in Atlanta, says that little would change for the trading floor in Manhattan's financial district if regulators approve the deal.
The buyer, IntercontinentalExchange, a 12-year-old exchange that deals in investing contracts known as futures, said Thursday that little would change for the trading floor in Manhattan’s financial district.
The NYSE dates to 1792, when 24 brokers and merchants traded stocks under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street. But its importance today is mostly symbolic. Most trading is done on computers that match thousands of orders a second.
“The cash equities business in America has effectively been obliterated,” said Thomas Caldwell, chairman of Caldwell Securities in Toronto and a shareholder in the New York exchange’s parent company, NYSE Euronext.
He said that the jewel of the deal is not the New York exchange but Liffe, a futures exchange founded in London.
“The original New York Stock Exchange, it’s got a brand name, it’s got recognition, but as a business it’s a very small part of this thing,” Caldwell said.
Three decades ago, the floor of the New York exchange was full of bustling traders. Today, one of its largest booths belongs to the cable news channel CNBC, which broadcasts there for most of the business day.
The stature of the New York exchange has been dwindling for years because of intensifying competition, a harsher regulatory environment and the declining popularity of stocks as an investment, Caldwell said.