Bonuses for equity traders are likely to be either flat or down from last year.

"A week ago, only equity traders cared what happened on the foreign exchanges."

"You still don't have the ugly behavior of the 80's," said an equity trader at a major brokerage house.

Mutual funds were trying to complete sell orders that they had placed earlier in the day, equity traders said.

"You still don't have the ugly behavior of the 80's," said an equity trader at a major house who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The speculation of Fed action contributed to a weaker dollar, but that did not seem to bother equity traders.

"I believe there is very little difference between the psyche of the commodities trader and the equity trader," he said.

There is also the problem that the futures market price reflects a market index, while equity traders deal in individual shares (Miller, 1990a).

No equity trader, for example, would dream of playing Liar's Poker for a million bucks.

When business fell across the industry in last year's fourth quarter, for example, Goldman's equities traders brought in 30pc less revenue than the previous three months.