Turning to the Crystal Ball…

Last week we discussed some of the big stories of the first half of 2004, including Thomson Financial's purchase of TradeWeb, Reuters' recovery, the growth of independent research and the increase in spending on market data and related technology.

This week, we look forward. What stories are we tracking over the next six months? (Send us an e-mail to tell us what you're keeping an eye on.) Again, in no particular order:

• Reuters' purchase of SunGard's PowerPartner software and customers. This is, of course, yet another sign of industry consolidation. Reuters plans to migrate the customers onto its own products to beef up its share of the wealth management market. SunGard's motives are less clear. It insists that it remains committed to the real-time space, but we haven't seen any new industrial grade real-time products from SunGard lately. And how will it replace the customers it has essentially sold to Reuters? Perhaps SunGard's problem is one of marketing, but either way, it needs to find a way to convince the market that it really is committed to providing real-time market data.

• Bloomberg's Fat (or Phat) Pipe. Rumors that Bloomberg is developing a datafeed have been flying around for years. For some reason, talk of the strangely named feed is once again intensifying. Whether this means that Bloomberg is actually going to release it this fall is one question. Just as important, however, is this question: does Bloomberg understand what it means to be a feed provider? It doesn't sound like it; sources say the vendor is insisting that those who use the feed also have a terminal on their desk. Um, isn't that missing the point? Meanwhile, we hear of another vendor that is preparing to launch a feed—hopefully that company will have a better understanding of the market, which is certainly interested in alternatives to Reuters. (More on that product to come.)

• The CUSIP controversy. Complaints that Standard & Poor's is levying unfair fees for ISINs issued by its CUSIP Service Bureau exploded in April, drawing the spotlight to an area that many, frankly, don't pay much attention to. But the International Organization for Standardization obviously recognized a problem when it issued a letter to the Association of National Numbering Agencies about the fees. Since then, IPUG has joined the fray. We'd like to know, however, whether anything will actually change.

• A similarly, um, exciting topic is grabbing column inches in the US: Reg NMS. The SEC's attempt to improve the market data revenue sharing model is attracting a lot of comment from both exchanges and industry groups. While it's a complex topic, it's of great interest to exchanges, at least, and so it wins a spot on the list.

• Consolidation in the data management space. Iverson and Fame have been snapped up as consultancies and traditional vendors look to grab a piece of the increasingly hot data management market. Interactive Data Corp. is just one company that's looking to jump into the market, so expect more consolidation here as well as in the broader market.

• Speaking of consolidation, the Reuters-Telerate negotiations are another major story for the rest of the year. Reuters is said to be working to drag out the negotiations for as long as possible, both to get the price down and perhaps to tighten the screws a bit more. That could backfire though. Now that the letter of intent has expired, a savvy competitor could take advantage of Reuters' negotiating skills to scoop up Telerate at below market prices. Anyone need a few solid products and a nice set of customers?