Wall Street: Speeding It Up

The nation's securities markets last week resumed their normal trading hours, staying open until 3:30 p.m. after six weeks of closing at 2. As intended, the shortened sessions helped bring about a drop in the heavy trading volume that had swamped brokerage-house clerical staffs. Average daily volume on the New York Stock Exchange fell 24.5% to 9,639,118 shares, as against 12,764,872 shares during the first three weeks of 1968. On the American Stock Exchange, volume shrank by nearly 50%, from 8,039,660 shares a day to a mere 4,622,004.

A growing watch-and-wait mood among investors, who are nervous about the economy...