NYSE Euronext Expands Real-Time Quotes to Include NYSE Arca Real-Time Last Trade Data

-CNBC and Google the first to offer immediate access to pre- and post-market stock prices-
-Most comprehensive package of online stock market data-

NEW YORK , Nov. 14, 2008 – NYSE Arca last-trade data is now available online from CNBC , First in Business Worldwide, and Google Finance, thereby broadening the availability of free real-time stock prices available to investors beyond regular trading hours to pre- and post-market hours trade data in NYSE (Tape A), NYSE Alternext US (formerly Amex; Tape B) and Nasdaq (Tape C) listed securities.  

This past June, CNBC and Google were the first among Internet and media organizations to acquire real-time, last-trade market data from the NYSE for free public display and access on their websites.

“With the addition of NYSE Arca last-trade data, CNBC and Google further demonstrate their commitment to investors by making available a comprehensive array of free online real-time stock prices during the full trading day,” said Ronald Jordan, Executive Vice President, NYSE Euronext Data Solutions.  “CNBC and Google were first to market in delivering free real-time stock prices to investors.  Now, by enhancing their web-based market data portfolio with NYSE Arca Real-Time last trade data, they are providing investors even greater functionality and accessibility to market information.  Investors can now go to CNBC and Google to get the most accurate and timely stock prices any time stocks are trading, something attractive and beneficial for all investors.”

“CNBC is committed to delivering our audience the most accurate and actionable news and data available,” said Scott Drake, Vice President, CNBC Digital Products and Technology. “Beginning today, CNBC .com will provide extended hours quotes in both the pre and post markets from 4 AM to 8 PM in real-time (http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/nyx).   CNBC  .com users will see an instantaneous price impact to any market moving news outside the traditional market hours. This is the kind of service that our audiences on the web and on mobile devices expect CNBC to provide.”

“The NYSE has been a great partner in bringing this data online and making it available for everyone through Google Finance” says R.J. Pittman, Director of Product Management at Google.  “We are excited to continue to provide more useful and important financial data online to make this information more accessible for all internet users.”

NYSE Euronext first proposed the idea for NYSE Realtime Stock Prices in January 2007.  Information providers may purchase the data from NYSE Euronext for a flat monthly fee. 

For more information on NYSE Realtime Stock Prices, go to: http://www.nyse.com/realtime

King of the Club: Richard Grasso and the Survival of the New York Stock Exchange by Richard Gasparino.

Some quotes :

John Phelan was an imposing man. He rarely raised his voice but when he did, it was like a volcano . . a former Marine and long-time floor trader who had inherited a specialist firm from his father. Phelan had built a small fortune on his own and now was one of the  most powerful members on the Exchange.  When critics of the NYSE called it a monopoly, he countered it was a public trust that served the needs of all investors regardless of size . . .   Phelan had a dark side. Like most traders, he never showed emotion and rarely gave people any insight into the motives behind his acions. He was also a control freak. He needed to approve just about every major decision, every move . . He could be mean. “He could kill you by looking at you the wrong way”.

When asked to describe his difficult journey to the top of the NYSE, Grasso often characterised it as a horse race – one in which they “made me run around the track twice” before he took over as King of the Club.

Grasso became known for his wild stunts to bring publicity to the NYSE.  Once he was on the podium of the exchange with a mascot for mining company AngloGold, a real African lion.

Referred to by Grasso as the “empty suit”, William Donaldson succeeded John Phelan as NYSE chairman. Grasso bristled under his leadership and succesfully convinced the exchange Board that the job should be his.

New York State Republicans could barely muster an attorney general candidate against Eliot Spitzer in 2002, and when they did, Spitzer won in a landslide. He also won a bigger battle for recognition. Spitzer and his staff had now all but concluded that Citigroup’s former star analyst, Jack Grubman, would be their next opportunity.  . . . . . . .  Grubman mad a perfect villain. He was arrogant. He made a ton of money – as much as $20million a year during the 1990s. He bragged about the conflicted nature of his job; how he snared deals one minute and then posted research the next. But most appealing of all was the evidence of Grubman’s possible fradulent behavior. It was massive – particularly evidence invollving AT&T, one of the few stocks Grubman had hated in the telecom world. But in late 1999, Grubman abruptly changed his tune, upgrading AT&T shares just before the company was to select firms to underwrite a massive stock deal. Citigroup won the banking work. . . . . . Citigroup CO Sanford Weil, one of the most powerful men on Wall Street, who was leading one of the world’s biggest firms, had personally intervened in the ratings decision by giving Grubman a “nudge” to upgrde the shares. It wasn’t just the $45million in underwriting fees Citigroup received . .  AT&T CEO Michael Armstrong was on Citigroup’s board and Weil was on AT&T’s board . . . . Grubman said in an e:mail ” . . Armstrong didn’t know what hit him . . that he later downgraded the stock and that Sandy had “nuked” Reed.” As payback, Grubman said, Weill got Grubman’s twins into an exclusive Manhattan preschool, the 92nd Street Y. . . . Weill had made large donation from Citigroup to the school . . .