International bourse alliances heat up

This could get confusing fast. The Nasdaq was rebuffed by the London Stock Exchange, which has just announced an alliance with the Tokyo Stock Exchange, which has recently announced a far-reaching alliance with the New York Stock Exchange. The Big Board, of course, has inked a deal with Euronext, which operates in Paris, Lisbon and Amsterdam but not in London. So you have to think maybe the TSE could potentially be a bridge of some kind between the LSE and the NYSE. Whew! The fact is that international alliances are all the rage right now. We've been talking about a global marketplace for so long. People are convinced that international exposure is a good thing, for listees as well as investors. I am not sure exactly what the revenue model is, however. New jointly traded products seem like a good idea.

For more on the TSE and LSE:
- here's an AP update