Should stock symbols be eliminated?

[chasinfla]

yes, stock symbols should be eliminated, mainly because they are offensive forms of speech to certain people, and may cause emotional distress to those who have lost money in the stock market. Furthermore, they are symbols of arrogant rich American greed.<P>

Or, on the other hand, the people who have 'issues' with them can just go play in another sandbox. I think this idea is better.

 

[lobsterman]

Quote from Covertibility:

A scrolling ticker that spells out the names of the companies ?!?! The time it takes to spell out Lockheed Martin, Southwest Airlines and General Electric along with share price and change defeats the efficiency the ticker provides.
Newbies got their wish when CNBC slowed down the ticker, but to spell out companies?!? Good grief.

You wouldn't be happy with Bloomberg News on Cable.

 

[Pabst]

Quote from Covertibility:

Its kinda like the NFL ticker on Sunday during a game, it provides a quick update as to whats happening without looking anything up on the computer.

Which reminds me. During college broadcasts, can't ESPN etal, have more than TWO letters in the right hand corner scoreboard. I mean UT. That can be Texas, Tennessee, Tulsa, even the University of fucking TOLEDO. How much trouble to have :TEX 31
ARK 28

 

[cashonly]

Quote from chasinfla:

yes, stock symbols should be eliminated, mainly because they are offensive forms of speech to certain people, and may cause emotional distress to those who have lost money in the stock market. Furthermore, they are symbols of arrogant rich American greed.<P>

GMAB! FYI, JTLYK, AFAIK, FWIW everyone loves them, IMHO! Anyway, WDALYIC???

JK! (ROTFLMAO)

 

[Cutten]

How are you going to set up a watch list or enter orders if you have to type in the full name?

This is a silly idea IMO.

 

[nkhoi]

Quote from garfangle:


...
Also it would avoid confusion when the exchanges limit the abbreviated symbols to a few letters (remember the confusion over INTL (Inter-Tel Inc) for Intel (INTC) a few years back).

Basically, if the industry dropped this anachronistic practice then the public would not have to also remember the acronyms, which may have no relation to the company name or business.

I keep buying MCI thinking it is the phone company way back.