There are a number of articles of interest in the January issue of Traders magazine:

• New Lease on Life — Under new parent NYSE Euronext, the former American Stock Exchange gets a new market structure, technology and pricing, and looks to rediscover its role among markets.

• Dark-Pool Blocks Shrink — There was a tidal wave of trading near the end of 2008, but not for the industry’s electronic crossing networks.

• This Year’s Crystal Ball: Eight Calls on Market Structure for 2009 — Jamie Selway makes his annual predictions and, to his credit, reviews how he did with last year’s forecast. I like that accountability.

• High-touch versus low-touch at Knight Equity Markets, as described by Joseph Mazzella, who oversees the listed block-trading desk (sorry, no link; excerpt):

What happened is the pendulum swung big-time to the low-touch side. And it was pegged there for a while. Algorithms are great, and there’s a place in the market for them, and there always will be. But the buyside wants that human interaction, that dialogue, especially in these times where any little bit of color can be beneficial and can help you implement the trade better. We’ve seen that pendulum swing from the low-touch side and come back to a more neutral stance.

Here’s a little historical musical trivia/interlude for your Friday. Have a good weekend, folks.

On This Day (NYTimes.com) in 1969, the Beatles performed as a group for the last time in public in a 45-minute gig on the roof of their Apple Records headquarters in London during the filming of “Let it Be.”