Wanted: market haiku

By: Ray Pellecchia

File Under: NYSE

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REQUIREMENTS FOR CONDUCTING "UPSTAIRS" OPERATIONS FROM A MEMBER ORGANIZATION'S BOOTH PREMISES ( from NYSE.com)-- This is NYSE Regulation's Information Memo to members and member firms about the regulatory requirements to work from a trading-floor booth in a manner similar to a firm's "upstairs" desk. It's an important change that enables floor brokers to be more competitive by participating more fully in multiple markets instead of just this one.

Forgive me for repeating the memo's use of all caps, but once again I'm trying to get folks here to notice that IN THE AGE OF THE WEB, WRITING IN ALL CAPS = SHOUTING. They haven't gotten the memo. I also want to suggest that they consider summarizing complex information in haiku. At no charge, I've taken the liberty of drafting one that could intro this particular memo:

We're flexible, but
build your supervision to
address these issues

No, really, no charge. But if you want to name me Honorary Chief Regulatory Haiku Officer, that's cool, I'll try to manage the conflicts of interest with my business agenda.

CHANGES TO DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS AT NYSE REGULATION AS A RESULT OF THE REGULATORY CONSOLIDATION WITH NASD (from NYSE.com) -- Here's another memo I think will be of interest to NYSE members and member firms, this one concerning how matters such as regulatory jurisdiction and pending disciplinary cases are impacted by the creation of FINRA. So to those who are impacted by that sort of thing, PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT THIS MEMO, OK?

I'll leave it to others to haiku that one. C'mon, open the memo. Use the comment space below. Release your inner market poet.

What would Webster have called it? -- If you could pick one word to describe the magnitude of the stock market;s recent swoon, what would it be?...If you said "correction," you might be overstating it, according to a note today from S&P investment strategist Sam Stovall. Though the Dow and S&P have each fallen about 6% from their July 19 peak, that's a mild "pullback," not a "correction," in Stovall's dictionary. A correction, in his view, is when the market falls 10% to 20% (anything worse is a "bear market"). A pullback is a loss of 5% to 10% and "not too serious event from an investment psychology standpoint." A correction is more painful, and is likely on the way, S&P analysts believe. In fact, we could be in the middle of one now. But S&P analysts doubt it will turn into a bear market, owing to strong economic fundamentals. "We currently don't see the carnage extending beyond a mid-correction magnitude," Stovall writes. (WSJ.com MarketBeat blog)

I've been interested since I got here (25 April, 1988) in the semantics of market moves. Back then, we were told that the event of 19 October, 1987 -- a 22+-percent drop in the Dow in a single day was NOT a crash. It was a "market break." If the market falling that far that fast isn't a crash, what is? To me, "market break" sounded like a bunch of traders running out for coffee. No matter how much Kool-Aid I drank, I could never say it with a straight face.

Today in NYSE History: 2 August 1967 -- The Bankers and Brokers Association was organized, an early but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to set up a clearing house.

HAVE A GREAT THURSDAY, FOLKS! OK, I'll get off that theme now. For a while, anyway.

Tags: New York Stock Exchange, Hybrid Market, NYSE, NYSE Euronext, NYX, trading, stock market