US lawmakers add fuel to old Wall Street spat

Washington

NEW legislation is intensifying an old fight between two powerful forces on Wall Street: stock exchanges and brokers. So far, the brokers seem to be winning this battle.

A bipartisan bill under development in Washington would weaken stock exchanges' grip on a key part of trading: the data feeds that provide the backbone of the market. Brokers complain exchanges have abused their control of the services to pad their revenues. If passed, the legislation would give brokers a greater voice in overseeing those information sources and other critical features of the stock market.