Why Nasdaq is on Snapchat

By Digiday • November 25, 2015 •

Even Wall Street wants in on Snapchat.

Just under two months ago, Nasdaq launched its Snapchat presence during the launch of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, a non-profit targeting young would-be Evan Spiegels. The idea: the young people on Snapchat might one day list their companies on Nasdaq.

Nasdaq using Snapchat as a way to show behind-the-scenes actions of bell ceremonies and office life. And soon, it is going to start testing putting stock market information and news on the platform before it goes anywhere else. This information, which Nasdaq calls market snapshots, are graphs showing performing of certain stocks, equities or commodities that is particular noteworthy or interesting that particular day.

The idea was borne out of the company’s fledgling but growing Instagram account (it grew from 5,000 followers to 15,000 in under a year) where market snapshots perform twice as well as other posts.

#MarketUpdate: Large-cap financials and #Energy companies are weighing on US stocks this morning after ECB President Mario Draghi commented on low #inflation and “Downside risks stemming from global growth”. This would generally be a negative for stocks but also impacts names that are leveraged to potential additional ECB stimulus – and in the past might have moved stocks higher, but Fed tightening also looks more likely given comments from Fed Presidents Dudley, Bullard and Evans this morning . The news sent worldwide equities and commodities lower as the focus was on lower growth, after several days of weak trading volume. The #Stoxx 600 dropped (-1.6%) by the most in 6 weeks during today’s trading in response to Draghi’s comments. · Core inflation has shown signs of weakening recently according to #ECB President Mario Draghi, and possible leading policymakers in #Europe to increase stimulus in the near-term. Since initiating asset-purchasing program in March, the committee’s plan appears to be working, likely offsetting disinflation concerns. Back in the United States, Janet Yellen has stated that December will be a live meeting for a rate hike, as the market start to price in the high likelihood action will be taken. · Crude #Oil inventories rose by 4.22 million barrels this past week according to the EIA, highlighting weak demand while prices continue to suffer. China’s demand for US goods has been trending lower, likely fueled by the US dollar hovers around its highest levels since 2003. Tepid consumer loan growth out of China combined with a stronger dollar is leading to weakness in commodities. #Copper is off around 2% and is at its lowest since 2009. · All 10 sectors are lower this morning, but positive quarterly results from Kohls (+6.6%) and Viacom (+3.5%) have given the bulls some support today. The S&P 500 Retail index is on pace for its worst trading week (currently -3.9%) since late August, but today’s news from Kohl might give the sector some upside momentum to close out the week.

A photo posted by Nasdaq (@nasdaq) on Nov 12, 2015 at 11:58am PST

“It’s a way to get out information with low production costs and it’s a new outlet to communicate,” said Nasdaq’s director of integrated marketing, Josh Machiz.

Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs started using Snapchat to recruit employees to the bank. A study from Putnam Investments found that 80 percent of the financial advisors surveyed were using social media for businesses. And Snapchat is perfect for trading local market information quickly — and somewhat privately.

Other than trading information, the majority of Nasdaq’s Snapchat content is more general interest. It uses it to connect with its companies: When T-Mobile started trading on Nasdaq in October, Machiz let T-Mobile CEO John Legere and other executives take over the Snapchat account for Nasdaq and even created a custom branded Snapchat icon for Nasdaq featuring T-Mobile’s signature magenta.