In the midst of this recession, technology companies are drawing attention from investors and consumers alike as everyone tries to predict when the downturn will hit bottom and what new inventions might drive a recovery. How will new software and the Internet affect the way people do business? Can consumers afford to update the entertainment they enjoy in their house or car? Are workers properly equipped to communicate with clients and colleagues around the world? Which technology companies will come out as winners from this global crisis, and who will not make it?

Leading CEOs and senior executives will discuss their strategies and other topics at a time of increased uncertainty, sinking consumer demand and more controlled financing. The annual Reuters Global Technology Summit will generate exclusive interviews and articles, blog postings and online videos.

Here’s McAfee CEO Dave DeWalt talking about demand for computer security products in the economic downturn:

NYSE Euronext says any new rule related to short selling should be similar to the old so-called bid test, a type of “uptick rule” that only allowed shorting at a price above the highest available bid.

Short selling is a trading practice some see as harmful to markets because it benefits from falling stocks.The SEC, which issued five rule recommendations last month, is now accepting public comment letters. CEO Duncan Niederauer, speaking at the 2009 Reuters Global Exchanges and Trading Summit in New York, says “We and most of our constituents think (the price test) should be applied all of the time, not just some of the time, So I don’t think our comment letter will talk about a circuit breaker concept.” In March, NYSE Euronext signed a joint letter with other top U.S. exchanges, including the Nasdaq Stock Market, urging the SEC to adopt a circuit breaker and a “modified uptick rule.

Presenter: Fred Katayama New York

Speaker: Duncan Niederauer CEO, NYSE Euronext

Nasdaq OMX Group, the transatlantic exchange operator, says it expects to work hard this year to try and lure new companies looking to list publicly even as competition among exchanges continues to rise.

President Magnus Bocker, speaking at the 2009 Reuters Exchanges and Trading Summit in New York on Tuesday, says “the IPO pipeline looks very interesting” especially for financial services firms where investors could see “both new startups but also some spinoffs from traditional banks and financial services companies.”

Speaker: Magnus Bocker President, NASDAQ

Presenter: Conway Gittens New York

Never before have exchanges undergone the heavy trading volumes, severe volatility, and intense scrutiny brought on by the global market crisis that began in earnest last year. Emerging from a period of blockbuster mergers, the largest market operators have so far run with few problems as investors worldwide rushed to sell securities. While the volatility could mean a short-term trading bonanza, the industry is also keeping a close eye on politicians and regulators considering sweeping changes that could mean new restrictions on capital markets and its growing ranks of participants. Some exchanges could take advantage as over-the-counter products such as credit derivatives, demonized by some for their role in the crisis, are pushed on to transparent clearinghouses.

Meanwhile, traders have hung on as roller-coaster markets forced them to reevaluate and even abandon some long-held investment strategies. The growing prominence of computer-based high-frequency trading has driven volatility to record highs, and accounts for record trading volumes in U.S. stocks despite a recession that has toppled some of the biggest financial firms. With ever faster technology, dark pools and other alternative venues have proliferated and intensified pricing wars meant to attract investors, who are bruised by the selloff and sensitive to trading costs. 

CEOs and other top names will discuss these and other topics in a series of closed on-the-record interviews at the Reuters Exchanges and Trading Summit, to be held in New York and London on May 11-13, 2009. The Summit will generate a series of exclusive interviews and articles, regular blog postings and online videos.

The Obama Administration has made infrastructure spending one of its top priorities as the nation grapples with mounting needs for its roads, bridges, water supply, power grid, schools and solid waste. As states and other municipalities struggle to find innovative financing for hundreds of billions of dollars of projects, new investments will soon be available for both individuals and institutions.
 
The increase in private-public partnerships is one topic high on financiers’ radar screens as localities are under more pressure to get projects started and obtain the needed funding for them. “Infrastructure” as a concept has become something of a catch-all and we will be pressing our guests to discuss how worried they are that less-critical projects will get piled into more important ones.
 
How will California deal with its growing water need? What’s the outlook for infrastructure for investors? How hamstrung are governments with all the need?  How tenuous are ratings? How long a window is there for these projects, politically? 

Georgetown’s Moran says “the collapse of export markets…and the collapse of commodity prices” have had a devastating effect on Latin America.

Professor Theodore Moran of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University says both the “collapse of exports to North America and Europe and the decline in demand for natural resources such as coal and iron ore” have made it an “extremely difficult” time for Latin America.

But he says that despite the current conditions he remains “bullish” on the region as countries continue to expand their “high-tech and high-performance service sectors.”

After years of heady economic growth, Latin America is now facing an abrupt slowdown that could reignite ghosts of the region’s repeated bust-and-boom cycles that many hoped was finally behind them.
 
When the global recession began in the United States, many Latin American leaders insisted the crisis would only affect developed countries, arguing the region’s recent growth was the result of sound economic policies. But months later they saw their own economies hit by the fallout.
 
Reuters fifth Latin American Investment Summit will feature more than 50 of the most influential businessmen, politicians and regulators who will give insight on where they think the region is heading. The Summit will take place in 15 cities in Latin America, the United States and Europe and will generate a series of exclusive interviews and articles from our team of expert reporters, as well as regular blog postings and online video, which will be immediately available only to Thomson Reuters’ clients.

Columbia University’s David Beim says the financial markets need re-regulation but the approach needs to be done with thoughtfulness.

Beim says the key to crafting new regulations will be to focus especially on the significance of incentives and leverage.

Speaker: Professor of Finance and Economics, David Beim, Columbia Business School

Despite the global slowdown Islamic banking will continue to grow as multinational banks trim investments and sovereign wealth funds inject cash.

Professor Mahmoud El-Gamal, Chair of Islamic Economics at Rice University, says that despite the global economic slowdown Islamic banks will likely continue to see good growth because multinational financial institutions have had to cut back on lending in the Middle East and Sovereign Wealth Funds, eager to advocate Islamic financial growth, will likely inject the sector with cash.

Speaker: Mahmoud El-Gamal Chair of Islamic Economics, Rice University Presenter: Ruben Ramirez New York

Listen to Influential investment strategist Byron Wien talks about the S&P500 hitting a technical low, when it hit 666 - “the devil’s number” - earlier this year.