NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is the largest equities marketplace in the
world. Over three thousand companies worth more than $15 trillion trade on the
NYSE. This means that approximately 80% of the value of all publicly owned
companies in America.

THE BEGINNING - It was in 1791, under a buttonwood tree at the base of Manhattan, where
the beginnings of the now New York Stock Exchange started. Forty years prior, merchants and
brokers gathered under a tile roof in lower Manhattan to auction off a wide variety of
commodities. During these initial 40 years the group was known as "The Royal Exchange". They
primarily traded in wheat, tobacco, cotton, sugar, and sometimes even in slaves. Selling of shares
of stock of a company was not common in those days as there were few businesses worthy of
public investments in the Colonies at the time.

In 1790, however, the Federal Government declared that it was redeeming the SCRIP MONEY
that was issued during the Revolutionary War in the amount of $80,000,000 dollars.
SCRIPT was the promissory notes that were issued to the soldiers and the firms and
merchants that supplied the military with food and equipment during the war. As a
result of this Federal action, these certificates created by the U.S. Government became
the first stock certificates traded in America

AMERICA'S FIRST BANK - About this time, the Government announced the creation of the
first bank of the United States in conjunction with the sale of $10,000,000 dollars in
shares of stock. Gradually other securities were also issued in connection with the
Federal Debt. Subsequently, new additional shares were issued in establishing The
Bank of New York. Immediately, public interest in stocks and bonds trading ensued.

FROM ONCE A DAY TRADING,TO TWICE A DAY TRADING,TO CONTINUOUS

ALL DAY TRADING

Auctions were held once daily. As substantial sales activities increased, it was decided by the
group to hold sales twice daily to cover the demand on the market. Many years later,
after the Civil War, a continuous all day system of trading was started. From 1790 on, a
significant change came about, with some commodities dealers and auctioneers
beginning to sell stocks and bonds as a side line. It was rapidly realized that selling
stocks and bonds required full time brokering in these securities that proved profitable.

ORGANIZERS OF THE EXCLUSIONARY TRADING GROUP

On May 17th, 1792 twenty-four broker/auctioneers met under the famous BUTTONWOOD
TREE on Wall Street, where they had been already transacting business for about a year
or so. At this location they established a trading group that was an exclusionary trading
organization. These twenty-four individuals started what was to eventually evolve into
The New York Stock Exchange.
 "T
HE BUTTONWOOD AGREEMENT"

The New York Stock Exchange began over two hundred years ago when, faced with cut rate
competition from a group of powerful government bond merchants, twenty-four brokers signed
the Buttonwood Tree Agreement. The agreement created a closed club in which members agreed
to trade only with each other and to abide by a 0.25% commission rate.

A year later the organization itself moved indoors, to the Tontine Coffee House, but unless the
weather was particularly vile, trading itself still took place outdoors.
The May 17, 1792 Buttonwood Tree Agreement was named after the huge Sycamore (known in
the vernacular as a Buttonwood Tree) in front of 68 Wall Street under which brokers gathered to
trade.

A mutual beneficial agreement was created by these broker/auctioneers, called "THE

BUTTONWOOD AGREEMENT", as follows: "We the subscribers, brokers for
the purchase and sale of public stock do hereby solemnly promise and pledge
ourselves to each other, that we will not buy or sell from this day on for any persons
whatsoever any kind of public stock at a less rate than one-quarter percent commission
on the specie value of, and that we will give preference to each other in our
negotiations."

History

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.

The Exchange was closed shortly after the beginning of World War I (July 1914),
but it was 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 outside the NYSE building on Wall
Street in a terrorist attack, 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.

On October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6%, one of the
largest one-day declines in recorded stock market history. It has been dubbed
"Black Monday."

Following a 554.26 point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) on
October 27, 1997, 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 (see
the October 27, 1997 mini-crash).

The first central location of the NYSE was a room rented for $200 a month at 40
Wall Street in 1817.

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 Thain, the former
President of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

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.

John Shepard Reed is the Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. He was
previously Chairman and CEO of Citicorp, Citibank, and post-merger, Citigroup.
 Statistics
• Listed companies 2,780
• Market cap $19.7 trillion
• Members 1,366

Records

Record Value Date

DJIA: Highest Close 11,722.98 January 14, 2000
DJIA: Largest Daily Gain 499.19 March 16, 2000
DJIA: Largest Daily Loss 617.78 April 14, 2000
NYSE: Highest Volume Day 3,115,805,723 shares June 24, 2005
NYSE: Lowest Volume Day 31 shares March 16, 1830

From NYSE public records

NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), also nicknamed the Big Board, is the largest
stock exchange in the world (by dollar volume) and second largest by number of listings.
Its share volume was exceeded by that of NASDAQ during the 1990s, but the total
market capitalization of companies listed on the NYSE is five times that of companies
listed on NASDAQ. The NYSE agreed to merge with the fully electronic stock exchange
Archipelago Holdings in late April 2005.

The New York Stock Exchange trading floor is located at 11 Wall St., and is comprised
of five rooms used for the facilitation of trading. The main building is located at 18
Broad Street, between the corners of Wall Street, and Exchange Pl., in New York City.

Quick facts
• NYSE is home to 2,800 companies valued at nearly $20 trillion in global market
capitalization. As of July 2004, all but two of the thirty companies in the Dow Jones
Industrial Average were listed on the NYSE, the exceptions being Intel and Microsoft.
• The exchange opens for trading at 9:30 AM and closes at 4:00 PM. However,
there had been many different trading hours over the years. From 1887 until 1952, the
exchange was open from 10 AM to 3 PM. There was even a Saturday trading session
from 10 AM to noon that was done away with in 1952. The present trading hours were
introduced on September 30, 1985. Extended hours trading was introduced on June 13,
1991 and has since been widely expanded in terms of available trading time.
• The frequently seen electronic display boards mounted on the walls of the
exchange were first installed in 1966, along with radio pagers.
• In the final days of the month of October in 1929, the NYSE experienced the
Wall Street Crash of 1929, which is considered the worst event in the American financial
markets. The crash was the catalyst for the Great Depression.

History

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.

The Exchange was closed shortly after the beginning of World War I (July 1914),
but it was 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 outside the NYSE building on Wall
Street in a terrorist attack, 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.

On October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 22.6%, one of the
largest one-day declines in recorded stock market history. It has been dubbed
"Black Monday."

Following a 554.26 point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) on
October 27, 1997, 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 (see
the October 27, 1997 mini-crash).

The first central location of the NYSE was a room rented for $200 a month at 40
Wall Street in 1817.

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 Thain, the former
President of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

On December 6, 2005, the NYSE's governing board voted to acquire rival

Archipelago and become a for-profit, public company.

John Shepard Reed is the Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. He was
previously Chairman and CEO of Citicorp, Citibank, and post-merger, Citigroup.

Statistics
• Listed companies 2,780
• Market cap $19.7 trillion
• Members 1,366

Records

Record Value Date

DJIA: Highest Close 11,722.98 January 14, 2000
DJIA: Largest Daily Gain 499.19 March 16, 2000
DJIA: Largest Daily Loss 617.78 April 14, 2000
NYSE: Highest Volume Day 3,115,805,723 shares June 24, 2005
NYSE: Lowest Volume Day 31 shares March 16, 1830

From NYSE public records