U.S. exchanges face tough times

There was once a day when we looked to the price of a seat on an exchange as a barometer of the exchange's health. Indeed, Wall Street's health. That seems like a long time ago. Now, we're more likely to simply check out the stock price. Unfortunately, NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX have been tanking of late. Both are down about 50 percent from the start of the year, Business Week notes. The trading volume surge that accompanied the credit crunch has leveled off in a big way. If a true bear market sets in, volume could fall even more. Both companies have worked hard to diversify their sources of revenue, but not to the point that they can offset a big revenue hit from trading volume. The future is thus still an open question. How they grapple with the on-going trend toward electronic trading remains the biggest issue. We'll have a lot more to say on this later.  

For more:
- here's the Business Week article

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