Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser; 1650; Wall Street Week in London

Why until last year this was a stock exchange like many others taking advantage of a global boom that in the previous decade had seen British stocks like those of Japan France Canada and West Germany far outstripping the American performance. Now the London Exchange is more important. But much less crowded. A year ago the exchange joined with the masters of the US over the counter market. The National Association of Securities Dealers to form the first intercontinental link of major world markets. But the old time trading floor is now inside the computers which here provide real time quotes by a satellite for close to 300 American issues. The U.S. Nasdaq system in turn carries the quotations of London market makers for nearly three hundred securities traded over here. This new partnership would lay the groundwork for a global network of 24 hour trading was followed by another revolutionary event here last October 27. The

financial deregulation of the London Stock Exchange otherwise known as The Big Bang. Which marks the end of fixed commissions as well as the elimination of barriers between different kinds of progress. This move coming 11 years after the ending of fixed commissions in the US dramatize the international trend toward freer markets and market the coming of age of electronic trading. Telephones and video screens have now largely replaced the old London Exchange floor in leaking traders and investors with capitalism on the march around the planet. More and more investors are thinking globally. U.S. firms have over 250 branches in 30 countries outside North America and some 150 foreign firms have established branches in the U.S. overseas investing in American stocks has grown significantly in this decade. In 1980 foreign purchases and sales totaled seventy five point two billion

dollars by last year. With a falling dollar and a rising market combining to make U.S. stocks look especially attractive to foreigners trading by non-Americans reached a record two hundred seventy seven point three billion or close to four times the 1980 pace. While American buying a foreign stocks is smaller in dollar terms it has increased even more rapidly. In 1980 U.S. purchases and sales of other countries equities totaled seventeen point nine billion dollars by last year that number had grown nearly six times to one hundred one point three billion. So traditional investment boundaries geographical and mental have been vanishing from London to liberalize and today's smart investor in Western Europe or America truly has a new world of opportunity.