The "reality" show megahit "Jersey Shore" returns to the airwaves Thursday evening and the media hype machine is in full swing. As part of the promotional buildup, the cast of the show rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange this morning and they drew the biggest trading floor crowd since Abbie Hoffman rained dollar bills down from the visitor's gallery in 1967. This season the cast members, almost exclusively comprised of New Yorkers (only Sammi Sweetheart actually ...
Cuttone & Co. was the first firm to move operations onto the NYSE's Next Generation Trading Floor platform
Some NYSE Traders Take a Seat, Finally
By Kristina Peterson
The New York Stock Exchange opened the first phase of its revamped trading area for floor brokers, giving some veteran traders the opportunity to sit down for the first time in their careers.
A spot on the New York Stock Exchange long has been called a "seat" in common parlance. But, in reality, many floor brokers work out of cramped, wooden booths with few actual chairs available. As part of a roughly $10 million renovation that began in July and is expected to wrap up by the end of this year, the stock exchange is building 200 new individual broker stations, with curved glass walls, brighter lighting and, most important, chairs.
"There are guys on the trading floor that for the first time in their career, they have seats," said Bernie McSherry, senior vice president at Cuttone & Co., the first company to move into the renovated area. "They're very excited about it."
NYSE Installs Chairs as Stock Exchange Seeks to Recoup Business
March 09, 2010, 8:54 AM ESTBy Nina Mehta
March 9 (Bloomberg) -- The New York Stock Exchange is betting that letting traders sit down will help win back business at the 217-year-old market.
Cuttone & Co. yesterday moved more than two dozen traders into new stations with seats at the NYSE, where standing has been the norm since 1903. NYSE Euronext built the booths known as pods during the Big Board’s biggest overhaul since 1981, part of a plan to bring firms back to the floor after the number of traders shrunk about 70 percent to 1,200 since the 1990s.