Big Board Seat Price Shows Weakness Despite Optimism --- Some Cite Decline in Trading, But Analysts Like Outlook For Broker Firms' Stocks
NEW YORK -- The falling price of a seat on the New York Stock Exchange shows a creeping shadow on an otherwise bright outlook for the brokerage business.</br></br>Two seats on the nation's oldest and largest stock exchange changed hands this week for $410,000 -- well below the $600,000 price commanded on Feb. 3, a level it hadn't seen since early 1989.</br></br>Because a seat is needed to transact business on the New York exchange, many consider its price a proxy for the brokerage business. They believe seat prices rise and fall with expectations for the stock market's ability to produce profits.</br></br>"What it seems to track is activity . . . and this is a very unenthusiastic market," says Richard Hokenson, an economist with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Inc.</br></br>Volume on the Big Board has eased to an average of about 193 million shares a day this month from 240 million shares a day in January and early February.