With the SEC's approval of a New York Stock Exchange (NYX) program expected to help it better compete with dark pools that have taken business away from public exchanges, the NYSE expects to attract retail, or individual, investors with more-favorable prices, reports the Wall Street Journal. The move is now also expected to be copied by other exchanges. Under the 12-month pilot initiative, NYSE will become the first U.S. stock exchange allowed to offer retail investors stock quotes in increments of less than one penny. That places the exchange on competitive footing with a handful of banks and electronic-trading firms that already pay fees to retail brokers for the chance to fill their clients' stock orders.
Global investors are on hold, waiting for comments from the Federal Reserve’s policy-making arm on when the central …