Volumes have soared in recent days at Liquidnet, the global institutional marketplace, as markets respond to ongoing debt and geopolitical-related crises around the world.
Volume in the first week of August at Liquidnet was the highest since November 2008, with 434 million shares traded in the US. Liquidnet volumes in Europe and Asia were also high. The market’s average daily volume for the last ten days has risen 50% in the US from the YTD average, outpacing the markets volume growth of 30%.
As institutional investors look to realign their portfolios in reaction to crisis-like conditions and global uncertainty, they are flocking to the safety of the size discovery offered by Liquidnet, says Brian Williamson, senior US equities analyst at Liquidnet. While we are all concerned about the macro economic conditions that are affecting the worlds markets, our responsibility is to provide a safe and efficient market for our Members around the world to be able to execute their strategies and that is what we are doing.
The surge in Liquidnet trading activity continues a trend that began in July. Both US and international volume had double-digit growth year-over-year. In the last week of July, Liquidnet traded more than 100 million shares two days in a row in the US, the first time that has happened since November 2008. (By comparison, average daily volume for the first six months of 2011 was approximately 55 million shares in the US).
(CG)