Nasdaq plans round the clock trading

Nasdaq plans to introduce 24-hour trading on its flagship US exchange to capitalize on growing global demand for US equities, a senior executive said in a social media post on Friday, reports the Reuters.

International demand for the lucrative US equity market has surged in recent years, driven by rising retail participation, increasing financial literacy, and easier access to digital trading platforms.

The exchange operator has started discussions with regulators and expects to launch 24-hour, five days a week trading in the second half of 2026, Nasdaq President Tal Cohen wrote in a LinkedIn post.

A round the clock trading model will allow exchanges to tap into global demand - which is currently catered to by alternative trading platforms - by attracting investors across time zones, increasing trading volumes, and improving market liquidity.

"The global growth of investor demand for US equities means we stand at another pivotal moment for our markets – to broaden investor access, expand wealth-building opportunities, and redefine how markets function," Cohen said.

Nasdaq joins rival exchanges like Cboe Global Markets and Intercontinental Exchange, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange, in planning extended trading hours.

"I suspect regulatory approval will occur once the securities information processors are updated to handle round the clock markets," Michael Ashley Schulman, partner and CIO at Running Point Capital Advisors told Reuters.

Exchanges might initially experiment with extended trading in large market-cap stocks, but "it will be interesting to see if they charge extra fees for extended trading," Schulman said. "Liquidity and fair market pricing will be relevant issues to address."

 

Even talk about hike in interest rate causes major decline at US stock exchanges

Over the years, I have been saying that Pakistan suffers from cost pushed inflation and any hike in interest rate erodes competitiveness of Pakistani businesses.

However, the policy planners in Pakistan, living in utopia have been persistently increasing interest rate having the least realization. I am sure this news will help the policy makers in understanding my point of view.

In the United States, stocks closed sharply down on Friday following comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that the Fed will press forward with raising interest rates amid lingering inflation.

Higher interest rates can restrain economic growth by making borrowing money more expensive and slowing consumer spending. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 1,000 points, while the Nasdaq composite dropped almost 500 points. The S&P 500 dropped by more than 140 points.

All three declines meant a more than 3% drop. All are still slightly above their levels a month ago, but much of their gains in that time were erased on Friday.

Powell gave a keynote address at the Fed’s annual policy summit in Jackson Hole, Wyo., saying that the central bank would be willing to take forceful and rapid steps to address inflation, even if it means potentially higher unemployment rates and a recession. 

The Bureau of Economic Analysis revealed on Friday that inflation slowed to 6.3% in July from exactly a year ago. This figure is down from the 6.8% annual inflation rate that was reported in June. 

But the Fed’s goal is to get inflation down to 2%, and Powell said the drop from last month is far short of what the Fed needs to see before it can be confident that inflation is dropping. 

The Fed has already raised interest rates from a range of 0 to 0.25% in March to 2.25% to 2.5% in July. This included two consecutive increases of 0.75 percentage points, the largest monthly increases in almost 30 years.

Powell said the Fed’s decision on how much to raise interest rates next month will be based on the data it receives.