By Jonathan Spicer
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The heads of the world's biggest stock exchanges agree there is still room for the "human element" in a high-speed trading environment that has aggressively gone electronic.
The New York Stock Exchange's landmark trading floor on Wall Street -- the symbol of U.S. capitalism that is occasionally teased for its low-tech nature -- received some praise from its owner and competitors alike at the Reuters Exchanges and Trading Summit in New York this week.
NYSE Euronext (NYX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Chief Executive Officer Duncan Niederauer said the number of specialists and brokers on the floor would "probably never" dwindle to nothing, while others said recent volatility and the increasingly complex investment products hitting markets require a human touch.
"There are a lot of clients that like to use the trading floor. They like the human element of trade. They like to pick up a phone and talk with a broker and try to get some color on the market," said Terry Duffy, executive chairman of CME Group (CME.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's top futures exchange.
"And then there is obviously the rest of the world who likes to trade by electronic trading," said Duffy.
Automated trading has bloomed over the last two decades as more investors with more capital demand quicker and easier ways to invest in global equities.
As a result, the ranks have thinned among those working the New York trading floor, founded more than 200 years ago.
HUMAN JUDGMENT Continued...
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