Is the Nasdaq OMX a Good Buy?

A few years ago it seemed that all we heard about from stock market pundits were the exchanges and how they were literally printing presses for money. They were the gate keepers at the toll booths of trading, taking a small cut every time a trade matched. As trading volume increased, and platforms became more efficient, the ability to generate steady and growing profits seem limitless. And then of course, the market sold off, trading patterns and hot products changed, and the stock prices of the exchanges corrected.

As the charts of the Nasdaq OMX (NDAQ) and NYSE Euronext (NYX) show (Source: StockCharts.com), it has been a difficult two months for the stocks of the exchanges. The drop in prices has been severe enough that many of the stock pickers that seemed to continuously pump the exchanges, even through the current downturn, have recently found themselves throwing up their hands and admitting defeat.