WALL STREET FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS CONTINUE EXODUS OUT OF DOWNTOWN

This:

U.S. security officials warned major Wall Street institutions of a potential threat after an al Qaeda-linked magazine suggested financial markets could be a target of attack, the FBI said on Tuesday.

The meetings with financial institutions took place over a couple of days in January after authorities circulated a bulletin to law enforcement agencies warning about "Inspire" magazine, which bills itself as the periodical of Yemeni-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Caused this:

Next year, Fidelity Investments will move from Lower Manhattan to Jersey City.

Deloitte & Touche, the auditing and financial advisory firm, is also leaving the area, for Rockefeller Center, while a neighbor, the Japanese bank Nomura, appears headed to Midtown.

The loss of additional companies from the city’s historic financial district and the surrounding blocks has in the past led to hand-wringing by planners, politicians and landlords about the dubious future of Lower Manhattan.

But this time, the news has been greeted with as many yawns as laments.

Finance still dominates the neighborhood, but Lower Manhattan has changed remarkably over the past 10 years. The residential population has more than doubled since Sept. 11, and the number of hotels has tripled to 18. More important, there are a growing number of law firms, tech companies and nonprofit organizations moving into the district.

IT'S GOOD NOT ALL THE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS ARE IN ONE PLACE: IT MAKES DAMAGING THEM ALL AT ONE TIME - WITH A DIRT BOMB, FOR EXAMPLE - MUCH TOUGHER FOR THE JIHADISTS.

AND THAT'S WHY THEIR MOVING OUT.