Online technology and reform of Nasdaq have combined to shrink both commissions and trading spreads in the stock market. Now it's time for bonds to get a dose of market efficiency. As it is, fixed-income investing inhabits a murky world in which trading is mostly done over the counter rather than on an exchange. Investors get only scanty pricing data, and markups are fat. At least 100 brokers offer online trading of stocks, but only a handful do bonds. As online trading comes to the bond world, the pricing should become a little more transparent-and competitive, too.
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