Initially working out of her home in Washington, she plans to offer guidance to securities and commodities firms interested in starting round-the-clock global trading.

Wall Street analysts, however, see round-the-clock trading as inevitable, and already there are signs of a mad dash.

He said the company still hoped to expand by setting up offices in Asia to facilitate round-the-clock trading.

Markets The Office of Technology Assessment said it might fall to Congress to lay out a regulatory policy for round-the-clock trading in stocks and futures.

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange will begin extended morning trading in currency options on Friday in a move that could set the stage for almost round-the-clock trading on the exchange.

By contrast, the dollar-mark relationship is based mainly on liquidity in many countries in Europe and issues inside the European Union, and is also more influenced by round-the-clock trading.

With the global market for the futures business as the prize, the nation's two biggest commodity exchanges are battling to develop the pre-eminent system for round-the-clock electronic trading.

Some of those early birds are adjusting to the merging of global financial markets and the steady march toward round-the-clock trading of stocks and bonds.

Charles R. Schwab, the firm's chairman and co-chief executive, said in an interview that the after-hours session is one of several planned steps that could pave the way for round-the-clock trading.

The firms say they just wanted an orderly beginning to what they hope will become a pioneering effort to bring round-the-clock trading to the masses.