Working From Home Feeds Market’s Woes in Little Ways That Add Up

Toggling between two computer screens instead of four. Slower wireless connections. Plain old cellphones — missed calls and all — standing in for highly programmed devices that allow instantaneous connections. Instant messaging and video conferencing replacing quick bursts of conversation across a floor. Ever since the coronavirus pandemic forced thousands of traders, sales representatives, analysts, bankers and risk managers out of their workplaces and into their homes, the foot soldiers of finance have been making do with technology that’s far more ordinary than many of them are used to. The global financial system is intricate and highly complex, made up of thousands of companies — banks, hedge funds, asset managers, trading specialists — that buy and sell trillions of dollars in assets like stocks, bonds and currencies for themselves or their clients. To do so, companies invest heavily in technology and have elaborate setups meant to simplify communication between trading desks, analysts and clients. Milliseconds make a difference in this environment, because prices can change swiftly.