The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the "Big Board", is a New York City-based stock exchange. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and the second largest by number of companies listed. Its share volume was exceeded by that of NASDAQ during the 1990s. The New York Stock Exchange has a global capitalization of $25.0 trillion as of December 31, 2006.
The NYSE is operated by NYSE Euronext, which was formed by its merger with the fully electronic stock exchange Archipelago Holdings and Euronext. The New York Stock Exchange trading floor is located at 11 Wall Street, and is composed of five rooms used for the facilitation of trading. The main building, located at 18 Broad Street between the corners of Wall Street and Exchange Place, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978.
NYSE Group merged with Euronext, and many of its operations (particularly IT and the trading platform) will be combined with that of the New York Stock Exchange and NYSE Arca.
The New York Stock Exchanges provides an efficient method for buyers and sellers to trade shares of stock in companies registered for public trading. The exchange provides efficient price discovery via an auction environment designed to produce the fairest price for both parties. Since September 30, 1985 the NYSE trading hours have been 9:30–16:00 ET. (As of February 9, 2007, the streetTRACKS Gold Shares ETF started its trading day on the NYSE at 8:20AM.)
As of January 24, 2007, all NYSE stocks can be traded via its electronic Hybrid Market (except for a small group of very high priced stocks). Customers can now send orders for immediate electronic execution, or route orders to the floor for trade in the auction market. In excess of 50% of all order flow is now delivered to the floor electronically.
On the trading floor, the NYSE trades in a continuous auction format. Here, the human interaction and expert judgment as to order execution differentiates the NYSE from fully electronic markets. There is one specific location on the trading floor where each listed stock trades. Exchange members interested in buying and selling a particular stock on behalf of investors gather around the appropriate post where a specialist broker, who is employed by a NYSE member firm (that is, he/she is not an employee of the New York Stock Exchange), acts as an auctioneer in an open outcry auction market environment
to bring buyers and sellers together and to manage the actual auction.
They do on occasion (approximately 10% of the time) facilitate the trades by committing their own capital and as a matter of course disseminate information to the crowd that helps to bring buyers and sellers together. The frenzied commotion of men and women in colored smocks has been captured in several movies, including Wall Street.
In the mid-1960s, the NYSE Composite Index (NYSE: NYA) was created, with a base value of 50 points equal to the 1965 yearly close, to reflect the value of all stocks trading at the exchange instead of just the 30 stocks included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. To raise the profile of the composite index, in 2003 the NYSE set its new base value of 5,000 points equal to the 2002 yearly close. (Previously, the index had stood just below 500 points, with lifetime highs and lows of 670 points and 33 points, respectively.)
The right to directly trade shares on the exchange is conferred upon owners of the 1366 "seats". The term comes from the fact that up until the 1870s NYSE members sat in chairs to trade; this system was eliminated long ago. In 1868, the number of seats was fixed at 533, and this number was increased several times over the years. In 1953, the exchange stopped at 1366 seats. These seats are a sought-after commodity as they confer the ability to directly trade stock on the NYSE. Seat prices have varied widely over the years, generally falling during recessions and rising during economic expansions. The most expensive seat was sold in 1929 for $625,000, which, adjusted for inflation, is over six million in today's dollars. In recent times, seats have sold for as high as $4 million in the late 1990s and $1 million in 2001. In 2005, seat prices shot up to $3.25 million as the exchange was set to merge with Archipelago and become a for-profit, publicly traded company. Seat owners received $500,000 cash per seat and 77,000 shares of the newly formed corporation. The NYSE now sells one-year licenses to trade directly on the exchange.
The origin of the NYSE can be traced to May 17, 1792, when the Buttonwood Agreement was signed by twenty-four stock brokers outside of 68 Wall Street in New York under a buttonwood tree. On March 8, 1817, the organization drafted a constitution and renamed itself the "New York Stock & Exchange Board". This name was shortened to its current form in 1863. Anthony Stockholm was elected the Exchange's first president.
40 Wall Street
circa: 1960
The first central location of the NYSE was a room rented for $200 a month in 1817 located at 40 Wall Street. But the volume of stocks traded had increased sixfold in the years between 1896 and 1901 and a larger space was required to conduct business in the expanding marketplace. Eight New York City architects were invited to participate in a design competition for a new building and the Exchange selected the neoclassic design from architect George B. Post. Demolition of the existing building at 10 Broad Street and the adjacent lots started on May 10, 1901.
The New York Stock Exchange building opened at 18 Broad Street on April 22, 1903 at a cost of $4 million. The trading floor was one of the largest volumes of space in the city at the time at 109 x 140 feet wide (33 x 42.5 meters) with a skylight set into a 72 foot high ceiling (22 m.)
The main façade of the building features marble sculpture by John Quincy Adams Ward in the pediment, above six tall Corinthian capitals, called "Integrity Protecting the Works of Man". The building was listed as a National Historic Landmark and added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 2, 1978.
In 1922, a building designed by Trowbridge & Livingston was added at 11 Broad Street for offices, and a new trading floor called "the garage". Additional trading floor space was added in 1969 and 1988 (the "blue room") with the latest technology for information display and communication. Another trading floor was opened at 30 Broad Street in 2000. With the arrival of the Hybrid Market, a greater proportion of trading was executed electronically and the NYSE decided to close the 30 Broad Street trading room in early 2006.
The Exchange was closed shortly after the beginning of World War I (July 1914), but it re-opened on November 28 of that year in order to help the war effort by trading bonds.
On September 16, 1920, a bomb exploded on Wall Street outside the NYSE building, killing 33 people and injuring more than 400. The perpetrators were never found. The NYSE building and some buildings nearby, such as the JP Morgan building, still have marks on their facades caused by the bombing.
The Black Thursday crash of the Exchange on October 24, 1929, and the sell-off panic which started on Black Tuesday, October 29, are often blamed for precipitating the Great Depression. In an effort to try to restore investor confidence, the Exchange unveiled a fifteen-point program aimed to upgrade protection for the investing public on October 31, 1938.
On October 1, 1934, the exchange was registered as a national securities exchange with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, with a president and a thirty-three member board. On February 18, 1971 the not-for-profit corporation was formed, and the number of board members was reduced to twenty-five.
18 Broad Street
New York City
circa: 1900
11 Broad Street
New York City
circa: 1920
Following a 554.26 point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average which was a 22.6% loss in a single day, the biggest ever before in a single day (DJIA) on October 19, 1987, officials at the Exchange for the first time invoked the "circuit breaker" rule to stop trading. This was a very controversial move and prompted a quick change in the rule; trading now halts for an hour, two hours, or the rest of the day when the DJIA drops 10, 20, or 30 percent, respectively. In the afternoon, the 10% and 20% drops will halt trading for a shorter period of time, but a 30% drop will always close the exchange for the day. The rationale behind the trading halt was to give investors a chance to cool off and reevaluate their positions. As a matter of fact, Black Monday was followed by Terrible Tuesday, a day in which the systems did not work and people who wanted to buy or sell shares could not conduct their trades at all, for unknown reasons.
Black Monday (1987)
There was a panic similar to many with a fall of 7.2% in value on October 27, 1997 prompted by falls in Asian markets, from which the NYSE recovered quickly.
October 27, 1997 mini-crash
The NYSE was closed from September 11 until September 17, 2001 as a result of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
On September 17, 2003, NYSE chairman and chief executive Richard Grasso stepped down as a result of controversy
concerning the size of his deferred compensation package. He was replaced as CEO by John Reed, the former Chairman of Citigroup.
On April 21, 2005, the NYSE announced its plans to acquire Archipelago, in a deal that is intended to bring the NYSE public.
On December 6, 2005, the NYSE's governing board voted to acquire rival Archipelago and become a for-profit, public company. It began trading under the name NYSE Group on March 8, 2006.
On April 4, 2007, the NYSE Group completed its merger with Euronext, forming the NYSE Euronext.
Marsh Carter is the Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, succeeding John S. Reed. John Thain is the CEO of the NYSE. Gerald Putnam and Catherine Kinney are the co-Presidents of the NYSE. top
The American Stock Exchange (AMEX) is an American stock exchange situated in New York. AMEX is a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1929 it was known as the New York Curb Exchange.
The Exchange traces its roots back to colonial times when stock brokers created outdoor markets to trade new government securities. The AMEX started out as such a market at the curbstone on Broad Street near Exchange Place. The curb brokers gathered around the lamp posts and mail boxes, resisting wind and weather, putting up lists of stocks for sale. As trading activity increased, the shouting reached such a high level that stock hand signals had to be introduced so that the brokers could continue trading. In 1921 the market was moved indoors into the building where it still resides, and the hand signals remained in place for decades even after the move. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978.
AMEX's core business has shifted over the years from stocks to options and Exchange-traded funds, although it continues to trade small to mid-size stocks. An effort in the mid-1990s to initiate an Emerging Company Marketplace ended in failure, as the reduced listing standards (beyond the existing lenient AMEX standards) caused penny stock promoters to move their scams to a national
exchange. In the mid 1990s the exchange was dogged by allegations of trading improprieties, which were highlighted by Business Week in 1999.
In 1998, the American Stock Exchange merged with the National Association of Securities Dealers (operators of NASDAQ) to create "The Nasdaq-Amex Market Group" where AMEX is an independent entity of the NASD parent company. After tension between the NASD and AMEX members, the latter group bought out the NASD and acquired control of the AMEX in 2004.
Out of the three major American stock exchanges, the AMEX is known to have the most liberal policies concerning company listing, as most of its companies are generally smaller compared to the NYSE and NASDAQ. The Amex also specializes in the trading of ETFs, and hybrid/structured securities. The majority of US listed ETF's are traded at the AMEX including the SPDR and most Powershares.
In 2005, the AMEX attempted to popularize an American implementation of the Canadian income trust model. Listed Equity Income Hybrid Securities,
The floor of the American Stock Exchange
(more commonly known as Income Deposit Securities) listed on the AMEX are B & G Foods Holding Corp. (BGF), Centerplate, Inc. (CVP), Coinmach Service Corp. (DRY), and Otelco Inc. (OTT). Recently Coinmach Service Corp, has been attempting to restructure itself away from being an income trust.
The large companies listed on the AMEX include British American Tobacco (ADR) (BTI), Imperial Oil Limited (IMO), Seaboard Corporation (SEB) and Bio-Rad Laboratories (BIO). Seaboard is notable for not having split its shares since becoming publicly listed; shares of SEB trade for around [$2,400 a share. (5/17/07)]
The AMEX also produces stock market indices; perhaps the most notable of these is an index of stocks of internet companies now known as the Inter@ctive Week Internet Index. Recently, the AMEX has also developed a unique set of indices known as Intellidexes, which attempt to gain alpha by creating indices weighted on fundamental factors. The AMEX Composite, a value-weighted index of all stocks listed on the exchange, established a record monthly close of 2,069.16 points on November 30, 2006.
Located near the World Trade Center, the operation of the AMEX was temporarily affected by the September 11, 2001 attacks. top
National Association of Security Dealers Automated Quotation System link to: Wikipedia.com
The NASDAQ is an American stock market. It was founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), who divested themselves of it in a series of sales in 2000 and 2001. It is owned and operated by The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. the stock of which was listed on its own stock exchange in 2002. NASDAQ is the largest electronic screen-based equity securities market in the United States. With approximately 3,200 companies, it lists more companies and on average trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market.
When it began trading on February 8, 1971, it was the world's first electronic stock market. At first, it was merely a computer bulletin board system and did not actually connect buyers and sellers. The NASDAQ helped lower the spread (the difference between the bid price and the ask price of the stock) but somewhat paradoxically was unpopular among brokerages because they made much of their money on the spread. Over the years, NASDAQ became more of a stock market by adding trade and volume reporting and automated trading
systems. NASDAQ was also the first stock market to advertise to the general public, highlighting NASDAQ-traded companies (usually in technology) and closing with the declaration that NASDAQ is "the stock market for the next hundred years." Its main index is the NASDAQ Composite, which has been published since its inception. However, its exchange-traded fund tracks the large-cap NASDAQ 100 index, which was introduced in 1985 alongside the NASDAQ 100 Financial Index.
NASDAQ allows multiple market participants to trade through its Electronic Communication Networks (ECNs) structure, increasing competition. The Small Order Execution System (SOES) is another NASDAQ feature, introduced in 1987, to ensure that in 'turbulent' market conditions small market orders are not forgotten but are automatically processed. With approximately 3,200 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, its systems trade more shares per day than any other stock exchange in the world.
NASDAQ will follow the New York Stock Exchange in halting domestic trading in the event of a sharp and sudden decline of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
As of 1 March 2007, NASDAQ is the largest Electronic Communication Network system in terms of shares traded. Approximately two out of every seven shares traded on the American financial markets is traded on the system. For New York Stock Exchange-listed securities or Tape A, it accounts for about 14-15% of the shares traded. For Tape C securities, it accounts for approximately 45-98% of the trading volume. top
The OTC Bulletin Board is a regulated quotation service in the United States for stocks which are not listed on one of the major U.S. stock exchanges. It displays real-time quotes, last-sale prices and volume information in over-
the-counter (OTC) equity securities that either do not meet the market capitalization, ownership, or other requirements of major stock exchanges, or for companies who do not choose to have their shares listed on such exchanges.
OTC markets are avoided by many investors due to a fear, sometimes well founded, that shares traded on them can have prices which are easily manipulated. At times, it is difficult to differentiate between OTC shares and penny stocks sold as part of what is essentially a confidence game. The OTC Bulletin Board is an attempt to differentiate the legitimate OTC market from such schemes and, as such, has its own capitalization requirements, which are nonetheless far less restrictive than those imposed by major exchanges. Many shares which have been "de-listed" from major exchanges for falling below minimum capitalization or other requirements nonetheless end up being traded on the OTC Bulletin Board.
With new rules in place, The OTC Bulletin board is home only to fully reporting companies, making the OTCBB a much safer place to trade compared to the way it used to be. Companies that do not qualify to be on the OTCBB usually trade on the pink sheets. top
The Pink Sheets is an electronic system, published by Pink Sheets LLC, to display bid and ask quotation prices. The name "Pink Sheets" stems itself from an earlier paper-based system, which was printed on pink paper. It is mainly used by stock brokers trading OTC securities.
Pink Sheets LLC is neither an NASD broker-dealer, nor registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; it is not a stock exchange, the companies listed do not need to fulfill any requirements. With the exception of a few foreign issuers, the companies quoted in the Pink Sheets tend to be closely held, extremely small and/or thinly traded. Most do not meet the minimum listing requirements for trading on a national securities exchange, such as the New York Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ Stock Market. Many of these companies do not file periodic reports or audited financial statements with the SEC, making it very difficult for investors to find reliable, unbiased information about those companies.
For these reasons, the SEC sees companies listed on Pink Sheets as "among the most risky investments" and advises potential investors to heavily research the companies they plan to invest in.
The appeal of the Pink Sheets in recent years has been that the issuer has relatively low "clearance" overhead, and can potentially have their stock listed on the NASDAQ OTCBB with a ".P" suffix. The NASDAQ machines were long required for every "market maker," representing an unfair monopoly which some would argue was hardly repaired with the "spin-off" of the NASDR and the recasting of the NASDAQ as a for-profit corporation, out of the not-for-profit that was Delaware-incorporated.
Buying Pink Sheets shares is supposed to be difficult; broker-dealers are enjoined to weed-out "widows and orphans" who may get an e-mail or word-of-mouth tip about a small stock. Many Pink Sheet stocks may only be registered for sale in one state, so that the only way to purchase the stock is to make a DRIP/business/unsolicited/accredited or other sophisticated form of investment. Many registered representatives do not even know how or if they can sell them. top
