The companies must let American regulators inspect their financial audits, a fight that stretches over 20 years.

The exchanges currently sell this market information, typically to big, institutional investors.

A lot of investment banks and brokers are working behind the scenes to straighten out all of the stock exchange orders.

Regulators want access to financial audits of Chinese companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges.

IEX, a market with a 350 microsecond delay, could make a difference to investors.

As stock exchange operators consolidate, the differences between exchanges matter less.