Matchmakers find business booming on Wall Street

By Claudia Parsons

NEW YORK (Reuters) - It's all doom and gloom on Wall Street but high-end matchmakers say when America's wealthiest bachelors are humbled, some start looking for love.

"In these economic times, the dynamics have really shifted in favor of relationships," said Rachel Greenwald, matchmaker and author of a new book called "Why He Didn't Call You Back."

"Casual dating seemed to be a by-product of the go-go days of past years when the stock market was booming," she said.

"People had disposable money and they wanted disposable relationships. Now things have really shifted emotionally."

Samantha Daniels says she has more clients than ever willing to pay $25,000 and up a year to meet women through her company Samantha's Table. She said some men simply have more time to focus on relationships because their business is on hold, for example those in real estate or hedge funds.

Others are not in the mood for endless first dates with different women and want a partner who will deal with their ups and downs.

"Everything is so volatile every day, and some days you're in a really bad mood," Daniels said. "Nothing is worse than if you're in a really bad mood and you have to put on your happy face for a first date and be all energetic and happy.

"Men need to have something in their life that's stable. Usually it's their business life, but if it's not that, they're looking to have some stability in their personal life," she said.