A quick follow up to the Margin issue we looked at in September (NASD Firm Margin Levels Spikes to Record Levels 9/17):
The NASD website reveals a significant drop in NASD firm margin, from just under $26 billion dollars in July 2003 ($25,977,000) to an August 2003 level of $17.5 billion dollars ($17,540,000).
At the same time, NYSE-designated clearing firms saw a slight uptick in margin levels. Note that the NYSE firms have significantly more assets under management than NASD firms. The NYSE firms saw their margin levels move from $148.5 billion ($148,450,000) in July 2003, to $149.7 billion ($149,660,000) in August 2003.
The combined NASD/NYSE margin total actually went down in August: $175.4 billion ($174,427,000) to ($167,200,000) in August.
