Merrill Lynch simply had to adapt to the new medium. All my trading has to be done through Merrill Lynch. My own feeling is that it will be difficult to implement night hour trading in North America. An effective stock exchange requires not only trading capability, but liquidity and depth. Many traders and dealers have to be present at the same time to create a fair and liquid market.
Retailing grows every year, even in recessions.
Online retailing will explode, but that does not mean that the current e-retailers will do well. Manufacturers will also establish their Web sites, for example, in the toy industry. So there is no guarantee that the current popular names will always be successful. The Internet is obviously going to be huge. Hundreds of companies that have strong manufacturing and retailing positions today will learn how to become effective Internet retailers.