The market is rife with speculation that Merrill Lynch and Citadel, a large US hedge fund, each plan to buy a 10% stake in the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.
The move is the second recent significant development in the US equity market since the New York Stock Exchange announced its merger with electronic rival Archipelago and Nasdaq its merger with I-Net, a leading ECN.
Shortly after those announcements, Knight Trading Group bought Attain, a...