Investors snuggle up to stock exchanges

0 Comments | USA TODAY, December, 2006 | by John Waggoner

The market for markets is booming. Shares of the New York Stock Exchange have soared 62% over the past three months. Investors in the Nasdaq stock market gained a cool 34%. Commodities exchanges have leaped, too: Shares of the Chicago Board of Trade are up 37%. Investors' interest in the stocks has been fanned by mergers and acquisitions involving the exchanges: *The NYSE is awaiting approval from shareholders and regulators to merge with Euronext, a Pan-European stock exchange.

The Big Board finalized its merger with Archipelago, which runs an electronic exchange, in March. *The Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, two commodities and derivative exchanges, agreed to merge in October. *The Nasdaq stock market has bought nearly 29% of the London Stock...