Brokerage

Sometimes it can be a trading traffic jam for the $2.5 trillion dollar wrap account industry. With the Archer platform from Market Street Advisors, now aligned with Cowen & Co.'s wrap trading system, all the various components of the wrap trading business are coming under a single point of entry.

JonesTrading Institutional Services said it signed a letter of intent to acquire Conifer Securities from the Conifer Group.

In a move to cut costs, Goldman Sachs is in the process of cutting between 20 and 30 sales and trading staff. Most of the effected positions are in New York.

Speculation has already begun regarding the upcoming Securities and Exchange Commission roundtable on technology and its impact on the equities market. Market structure professionals are mixed as to whether the confab will produce some sort of best practices rule or is it primarily a fact finding mission.

JonesTrading Institutional Services added some heft to its international business. The agency broker, which specializes in trading illiquid stocks, hired 10-year veteran Marcus Martin to head its growing international desk.

Volant Trading is entering the options routing business. The proprietary trading firm recently hired two executives formerly involved with Goldman Sachs' options routing business to head up the new initiative. In building a routing business, which involves paying retail brokerages for their flow, Volant will compete against such giants of the industry as Citadel, Susquehanna, and Citi/ATD.

Where there is poverty, there needs to be more than a helping hand that provides temporary assistance. People in need often must have immediate health services.

Bloomberg, through its IOI Network, broadcasts what it calls "routable" indications of interest from brokers. These are similar to what the buyside says actionable IOIs are supposed to be, where one simply clicks on an IOI and a trade is completed.

Options volume is headed down this year, but the institutional commission pool will be up slightly. That's the prognosis from the Tabb Group in a report released recently.

BATS Global Markets reported its U.S. equities matched market share totaled 12.3 percent in July, jumping from 11.5 percent in June, and leaping from 11.1 one year ago. The exchange operator saw an average daily matched volume of 750 million shares during the month, off from 789.7 million shares in June.