Stock Market 101: From Bull and Bear Markets to Dividends, Shares, and Margins–Your Essential Guide to the Stock Market (Adams 101) by Michele Cagan

The Stock Market
Where Fortunes Are Won and Lost
Every Day
It’s where fortunes are won and lost, where anyone has a chance to strike it
rich or lose everything: The stock market fuels dreams of building great
wealth, but can turn suddenly, crushing those hopes and decimating nest
eggs.
From the opening bell at 9:30 A.M. Eastern Standard Time to the
market’s close at 4:00 P.M. , the U.S. stock markets never stop moving. The
action, though, is nearly silent, a stark contrast to the “Wild West”
excitement that characterized the markets as recently as ten years ago.
Today, the quiet hum of computer screens has replaced the cacophony of
shouting traders and the flurry of paper littering the floor.
The U.S. Market Is Born
When the United States was in its infancy, the founding fathers worked
tirelessly to create a nation like no other. In a brilliant move, President
George Washington installed Alexander Hamilton as the first Secretary of
the Treasury in 1789. Under his watch, the U.S. stock market was born.
Hamilton founded the country’s first stock exchange in Philadelphia in 1790,
followed shortly after by the New York Stock Exchange in 1792, where the
Bank of New York was the first corporate stock traded.

Stock Market 101: From Bull and Bear Markets to Dividends, Shares, and Margins–Your Essential Guide to the Stock Market (Adams 101) by Michele Cagan