A Stock Exchange is an organized market for buying and selling financial instruments known as securities, which include stocks, bonds, options, and futures. Most stock exchanges have specific locations where the trades are completed. For the stock of a company to be traded at these exchanges, it must be listed, and to be listed, the company must satisfy certain requirements. But not all stocks are bought and sold at a specific site. Such stocks are referred to as unlisted. Many of these stocks are traded over the counterthat is, by telephone or by computer.
Major stock exchanges in the United States include the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), both in New York City. Far more corporations list their stock on the NYSE than on the AMEX, however. Nine smaller regional stock exchanges operate in Boston, Massachusetts; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; Miami, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Salt Lake City, Utah; San Francisco, California; and Spokane, Washington. In addition, most of the world's industrialized nations have stock exchanges. Among the larger international exchanges are those in London, England; Paris, France; Milan, Italy; Hong Kong, China; Toronto, Canada; and Tokyo, Japan. These stock exchanges all have a central location for trading. The major over-the-counter market in the United States is the Nasdaq Stock Market (formerly, the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation [NASDAQ] system). The European Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system (EASDAQ) is the major over-the-counter market for the European Union (EU).
Stock exchange transactions involve the activities of brokers and dealers. These individuals facilitate the buying and selling of financial assets. Brokers execute trades on behalf of clients and receive commissions and fees in exchange for matching buyers and sellers. Dealers, on the other hand, buy and sell from their own portfolios (inventories of securities). Dealers earn income by selling a financial instrument at a price that is greater than the price the dealer paid for the instrument. Some exchange participants perform both roles. These dealer-brokers sometimes act purely as a client's agent and at other times buy and sell from their own inventory of financial assets
The Importance of Stock Exchanges
Stock exchanges perform important roles in national economies. Most importantly, they encourage investment by providing places for buyers and sellers to trade securities. This investment, in turn, enables corporations to obtain funds to expand their businesses.
Corporations issue new securities in what is known as the primary market, usually with the help of investment bankers (Investment Banking).
When you buy expensive carpentry tools at your local hardware store, you still need the correct plans to build that elegant home. It takes more that just having the right tools to build your dream house. The same applies to trading.
"Timeline." NYSE, New York Stock Exchange About Us History 2008 Specialists Are Transformed into Designated Market Makers (DMMs). N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. .
Harris, Larry (2003). Trading and Exchanges: Market Microstructure for Practitioners. Oxford University Press. p. 290.
Cheap and efficient trading is what securities traders wanted and that is what they got. Volumes transacted saw unprecedented increases, with the average daily number of trades going through the ceiling”(1.) This attests to the idea that with the advances made in technology today, Wall street will not be able to keep up. The “nerds” of society will be able front run the stock market and make more money in seconds than anyone could ever imagine.
The industry of securities brokerage (or named stockbroker) may be divided into three categories: the multinational financial giants, the traditional adviser-based stockbrokers and the internet-based stockbrokers.
The stock market is a centralized area where buyers and sellers comes together to perform stock transaction. When one thinks of the stock market, the first thing comes to mind is Wall Street which is sometimes referred to as the New York Stock Exchange as well as the NYSE.
The coins made in gold, silver and bronze were traded during Roman Empire and the shortage of coins created a barrier for money circulation. However with the establishment of paper money, a sophisticated banking, global clearing system and electronic money, the global financial system evolved with a worldwide framework of legal agreements. In the Global Financial market, foreign currencies issued by the world, countries are traded by the buyers and sellers using currency exchange rates. Now a day, it is very common practices of companies in one country to raise capital in a foreign country by listing their stocks on major foreign exchanges given the growth of equity markets are becoming more globalized (SNHU, 2015).
If the world, consisting of the consciences of over six billion people, wants the market to grow, then the market will grow. With international interest and knowledge, we can eliminate fraud and stock pooling to raise stock prices. The markets will be more honest, and they will grow at a rate that we need them to, in order to continue with our exceptional economic growth rate.
This paper will serve as a discussion on the topic of investment banking. In this paper the author includes various articles and thoughts that help to understand the background and principle of investment banking. This discourse will attempt to address this issue through explaining what investment banking is, introducing major investment bankers, and how investment banking affects our globally economy. Investment Banking Defined Investopedia (2008) stated this definition about investment banking, “A specific division of banking related to the creation of capital for other companies. Investment banks underwrite new debt and equity securities for all types of corporations.
A stock is a share of a public corporation that is traded in the open market. It is how a corporation raises its’ capital to expand their business and ability to produce goods or services. There are two types of stock: common and preferred stocks. The difference is how an investor receives a dividend. Both stocks give a person a piece of ownership of a corporation with the hope that there is a return on their investment.
Financial markets as we know them were arguably started in the 14th century by Venetian merchants tied to the moneylenders - the bankers of their time. They basically bought high-risk, high-interest loans or exchanged them for other loans with other lenders. The first real stock exchange can be linked to Antwerp in 1531 to deal in loans, government, and individual debt. By the 1600’s, all the East India trading companies started to spring up under different countries. Individuals would invest in these voyages, thus creating the first futures markets. It was a risky investment, considering storms, pirates, and the other dangers of a long ocean voyage over relatively unknown seas, but if the ship you invested in came back with full holds then you were pretty much set for life. However, actual exchanges were not established until later. The first was set up in London in 1773, but it was restricted by laws that restricted shares to whom shares could be sold and at what rate they were taxed. Nineteen years later it was followed by the New York Stock Exchange.
Float Shares in the Market Place – Floating shares can be identified simply as the shares of a public entity that are available for trading in a stock market. An advantage of this source of funds is that the entity gets access to new capital that can be used in developing the business. Although its disadvantage is that the shareholders’ interests may differ from the company’s interest or objective.
Capital markets are markets "where people, companies, and governments with more funds than they need (because they save some of their income) transfer those funds to people, companies, or governments who have a shortage of funds (because they spend more than their income)" (Woepking, ¶3). The two major capital markets are stock and bond markets. Capital markets promote economic efficiency by moving funds from those who do not have an immediate need for it to those who do. Individuals or companies will put money at risk if the return on the intended investment is greater than the return of holding risk-free assets. An example of this would be those that invest in real estate or purchase stocks and bonds. Those that invest want the stock, bond, or real estate to grow in value or appreciate. An example of this concept would be if an individual or company invested an amount saved over the course of a year. While investing may be riskier, these individuals hope that the investment will yield a greater return than leaving the money in a savings account drawing nominal interest. In this example the companies that issue the stocks or bonds have spending needs that exceed their income so the company will finance their spending needs by issuing securities in the capital markets. This is a method of direct finance because the "companies borrowed directly by issuing securities to investors in the capital markets" (Woepking, ¶5).
The biggest stock exchanges are the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. The New York Stock Exchange is a large building in Lower Manhattan that does auction-style trading with a lot of face to face interaction through specialists, brokers, and buyers. There are upper floors in this exchange on which specialists determine the prices of all the stocks. This information then travels to the brokers who work auctions face to face with buyers in order to sell the stocks. America’s biggest companies, like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, sell their stocks through this exchange. NASDAQ is a virtual stock exchange with no physical building. This exchange was created during the 1970s but began thriving during the tech boom of the 1990s. The tech boom helped this exchange become the home of more technological companies li...
Financial institutions (banks and other lending companies) use them to decide whether to grant a company with fresh working capital or extend debt securities (such as a long-term bank loan or debentures) to finance expansion and other significant expenditures.