A Guide to the NYSE Marketplace

A Guide to the NYSE Marketplace

Chapter one

THE NYSE:
AT THE HEART
OF GLOBAL
FINANCIAL
MARKETS

The financial markets are an important part of our daily
lives. Making sure we are financially secure is a vital part of
how our economy grows. And investing in securities is
often a significant component of an investor’s portfolio.
Owning stock means you own a slice of a public company.
These companies span the global economy and form the
core of our private enterprise system. They spur job cre-

ation and economic growth while creating products and
providing services that improve our quality of life.
When a company needs to raise money to expand, it sells
stocks or bonds to the public through the financial markets.
Individuals become investors in this company by purchas-

ing those securities.
More than 90 million Americans own shares of stock
through individual investments or through mutual funds.
And many more participate in the stock market through the
investments of retirement funds, insurance companies, uni-

versities and banks. Owning stock allows investors, large and
small, to share in the world’s economic growth and vitality.
Central to this activity is the NYSE marketplace, where bil-

lions of dollars worth of stock change hands each day. Only
the highest quality companies can choose to list their secu-

rities on the NYSE. And once they do, the NYSE plays a
unique role in providing deep and liquid markets for the
trading of those securities, benefiting all investors, large
and small.
The NYSE has come a long way since 1792, when 24 bro-

kers and merchants signed the historic “Buttonwood
Agreement” to trade a handful of securities on New York’s
Wall Street. In the more than two centuries that have fol-

lowed, the New York Stock Exchange has continued to
adapt and evolve into the world’s largest global equities
marketplace. The NYSE has remained unwavering in its
commitment to customers and to building a truly global
marketplace with great breadth of product and geographic
reach. Its mission is to add value to the capital-raising and
asset-management process by providing the highest-quali-

ty and most cost-effective marketplace for the trading of
financial instruments, to promote confidence in and under-

standing of that process, and to serve as a forum for discussion
of relevant national and international policy issues.
The NYSE is one of two U.S. securities exchanges the NYSE
Group Inc. operates:
• The NYSE is the world’s largest and most liquid cash
equities exchange. The NYSE provides a reliable,
orderly, liquid and efficient marketplace where
investors buy and sell listed companies’ common stock
and other securities. On June 30, 2006, the NYSE’s
more than 2,600 listed operating companies—some
450 of which are from outside the U.S.—represent a
total global market capitalization of over $22.6 trillion.
In the second-quarter 2006, on an average trading day,
almost 1.8 billion shares, valued at over $68.5 billion,
were traded on the NYSE.
• NYSE ArcaSM operates the first open, all-electronic
stock exchange in the United States and has a leading
position in trading exchange-traded funds and
exchange-listed securities. NYSE Arca is also an
exchange for trading equity options. NYSE Arca’s trad-

ing platform provides customers with fast electronic
execution and open, direct and anonymous market
access. Through NYSE Arca, customers can trade some
8,000 equity securities and more than 175,000 option
products. On average, about 700 million shares, valued
at more than $25 billion, are traded through NYSE
Arca each day.
NYSE Group pursues listings from all over the world, and the
two markets, with their different criteria for listings, allow the
Group to attract a wide range of companies. To be considered
for an NYSE listing, companies must meet strict financial and
regulatory criteria. (Companies that today cannot meet the
financial listing standards of the NYSE can choose to list with
NYSE Arca and begin on a track toward an NYSE listing.)
Companies list as initial public offerings (IPOs), as transfers
from other markets or as non-U.S. companies cross-listing at
exchanges worldwide

A Guide to the NYSE Marketplace