$Stock*Shop*Charts*News*Option$

[Tuff-Stuff]

Looking to counter slow midday trading and uneven liquidity, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:ICE) is preparing to launch a midday auction for thinly traded shares after last week's approval from the SEC.

"The fact that more trading is happening on the open and close today than in the past is a symptom of a larger problem, which is that the market is so fragmented during the day," NYSE President Tom Farley said.

The last half hour of trading accounted for more than one in six trades in S&P 500 stocks last year, up from about one in eight in that window in 2007.