Unable to find a fit with a partner in an industry where technology has outstripped its traditional role, NYSE Euronext — headquartered in Wall Street's New York Stock Exchange building — has agreed to an $8.2-billion acquisition by an Atlanta-based commodity-trading outfit, InterContinental Exchange (ICE).

The deal would create a derivatives giant, as Reuters noted. It also gives a 12-year-old startup control of the most iconic symbol of U.S. capitalism, with a two-century history of serving as the very hub of company-building. While the exchange still features traders squawking in bright-colored jackets to make orders, digital technology and the rise of private trading venues have made it less and less relevant.

NYSE, which refreshed its branding earlier this year, handles only about 20 percent of equities traded in the United States on a given day, an expert told the U.K.'s Guardian, down from a peak of 60 percent to 70 percent.Continue reading...

Occupy Wall Street protesters gathered in New York's financial district to mark the first anniversary of the movement, their presence contained by metal barriers and riot-clad police forming human walls. The current activities, dubbed a “roving carnival of resistance” include “nonviolent civil disobedience” as well as events planned in at least 15 other cities including Asheville, North Carolina, San Francisco and Hilo, Hawaii. 

Chants of "All day, all week, Occupy Wall Street" and "We got sold out, banks got bailed out," greeted Wall Street workers arriving at their offices, echoes of the original goal of the protest to generate "a swirl of mobile occupations of corporate lobbies and intersections," as stated on the Occupy website for the Sept. 15-17 anniversary events, promoted on Twitter with the hashtags #S15, #S16 and #S17.Continue reading...

As Wall Street embraces the inevitable tide of social media, fiduciary responsibility is taking on new parameters.

In a different kind of security risk as Morgan Stanley Smith Barney is stepping up its social media reach, granting its 17,000 financial advisers partial access to Twitter and LinkedIn over the next several months. The move expands a year-long experiment with 600 employees to test whether social media would be a helpful tool for its employees.

Of the 600 advisers involved in the trial, 40% cited new business through their social media use and of those 240, 60% said those new customers had more than $1m worth of assets. “The big takeaway is that it works,” commented Lauren Boyman, director of digital strategy at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, to the New York Times.Continue reading...

NYSE Euronext today unveiled a new logo, an abstract vision of the globe that “visualizes the concept of unlocking the potential of our worldwide community," according to Euronext’s global head of marketing, Marisa Ricciardi, in a blog post.

"Our company has transformed dramatically over the course of the last five years, so we’re rolling out a new brand identity that better represents both our position today, and our direction for the future," she adds.

The vibrant blue and green colors represent “growth and optimism,” Ricciardi notes. The lighter hues, meanwhile, “convey our commitment to transparency, and the bolder colors recall our storied historical role in developing the world economy."Continue reading...

Burning up Wall Street and the virtual Wall Street that is Twitter and Facebook, not to mention inspiring wags such as the UK's Daily Mash (above) and US humorist Andy Borowitz — you've no doubt already read Goldman Sachs' exec Greg Smith’s excoriating resignation letter published as a take-no-prisoners op-ed column in The New York Times today. Goldman, no surprising, rejected Smith's accusations in the 'other' paper of record, the Wall Street Journal.Continue reading...

Anheuser-Bush InBev visited the New York Stock Exchange today to find out: "Who is the biggest fan?" The leading global brewer hosted a Bud Light Fan Camp Tailgate outside the NYSE in Experience Square to celebrate Super Bowl XLVI and promotes the launch of its new premium brand-Bud Light Platinum.

In honor of the occasion, Felipe Dutra, CFO of Anheuser-Busch InBev, rang The Closing Bell, kicking off the first ever Bud Light Platinum "Flash Pop" Happy Hour which took place on the floor of the exchange from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. And yes, there was tailgating.Continue reading...

Our most-read blog posts of the past week range from the Starbucks' "Black Guy" Receipt Scandal to Skype on Facebook:

#1 Starbucks Latest to Suffer "Black Guy" Receipt Scandal

#2 Transformers 3 Product Placement: If Tom Hanks Gets a Pass, Michael Bay Does Not

#3 BP Returns to TV

#4 Facebook Launches Video Calling With Skype

#5 Petite Lap Giraffe: A Tiny Viral Marketing Success

#6 Coke and WWF Green the Philippines with “Living Billboard”

#7 Target Aims Logo at Chicago Landmark

#8 Duane Reade Opens Premium Drugstore 'Experience' on Wall Street

#9 How Moleskine Converts Fans (and Retailers) to Brand Ambassadors

#10 Colgate Puts Teeth Into Social Marketing

Walgreens’ New York-centric Duane Reade division is throwing a red carpet opening tonight for its flagship store on Wall Street. That's right — a VIP bash to celebrate opening a new drugstore in a city that has one (it seems) on every other corner.

Duane Reade, which has been remodeling its stores, has been putting on a show to promote its new locations, including Broadway-style dancers and tuxedoed street teams. But this opening will top them all.

The 22,000-sq.-ft. new location will be open 24/7, in The Trump Building at 40 Wall Street, an iconic address that once upon a time was a bank hall known as the "Crown Jewel of Wall Street" and touted as the tallest building in the world.

40 Wall Street, which opens its doors to the public at 7am on Wednesday, is the chain’s most ambitious, glittering and elaborate store to date, geared to its moneyed, rushed, picky and well-heeled neighborhood clientele.

The elite amenities on offer certainly 'Trump' DR's other Manhattan locations to date.Continue reading...