What do you think of when you hear the word NYSE or NASDAQ ? If you’re like
many investors, you probably think of a stock exchange, a marketplace where investors and traders,
using computers with big screens, buy and sell shares of companies. But did you know that NYSE (NYSE: NYX) and Nasdaq(NasdaqGS: NDAQ) are also in business to make profit for their shareholders, just as Google(NasdaqGS: GOOG),Apple(NasdaqGS: AAPL) or JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM) do. NYSE and NASDAQ are public companies whose shares can be bought and sold respectively on NYSE and NASDAQ stock exchange.
Facts about New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
NYSE is one of the world’s largest markets for various exchange-traded investments.Started in 1792 after a meeting of 24 men, it was formally constituted as the New York Stock and Exchange Board in 1817. After the Civil War, the exchange provided the capital for the accelerating industrialization of the United States.
In March 2006, NYSE became a publicly held company with the formation of the NYSE Group, Inc., All seat holders became shareholders of the NYSE Group. A merger with Euronext N.V., a group of European securities exchanges, created the holding company NYSE Euronext in 2007. In 2008 NYSE Euronext agreed to acquire the American Stock Exchange.
In US, NYSE Euronext operates NYSE, the New York Stock Exchange, which lists various financial instruments; and NYSE Arca, an electronic exchange for securities and other exchange traded products. In Europe, it handles all stock exchanges that formed the Euronext: Paris(France), Amsterdam(The Netherlands), Brussels(Belgium),Lisbon(Portugal) .
Facts about National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ)
The NASDAQ is the second largest stock market in the US and the major over-the-counter marketplace. It provides a computerized stock trading network that facilitates the trading of securities around the world. It was created by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and is monitored by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Trading on the NASDAQ stock exchange began in 1971. In 1992 it joined with the International Stock Exchange in London to form the first intercontinental linkage of securities markets. NASDAQ’s 1998 merger with the American Stock Exchange formed the NASDAQ-Amex Market Group. With the acquisition of the Nordic stock exchanges OMX and the control of a part of the Dubai Stock Exchange, NASDAQ OMX Group had become the largest electronic stock market in the United States and around the world. It operates many exchanges across many nations.
In Europe, it handles stock exchanges in Copenhagen (Denmark), Helsinki (Finland), Stockholm (Sweden), and Iceland as NASDAQ OMX Nordic and exchanges in Tallinn (Estonia), Riga (Latvia) and Vilnius (Lithuania) as NASDAQ OMX Baltic. In middle-east, it holds one-third of the Dubai Stock Exchange.
