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 The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is a very old financial institution, as stock trading in New York City started about 190 years ago.
At the beginning, its role was to channel capital into industry. Towards the end of the 19th century, it became the leading exchange and a few years later it was to be widely accepted as the center of international finance.
Located in Wall Street, the NYSE, one of the world's leading financial institutions and also considered as the world's foremost securities marketplace, contributes to the growth of enterprises.
On Thursday, 24th October 1929, about 13,000,000 shares were traded on the floor. This day is still remembered as Black Thursday and, on 29th October, the market crashed, and brokers, in an attempt to cover their losses, sold their customers' stocks. Prices plummeted, communications broke down and this led to panic in face of the tremendous volume of orders. Stock prices declined, consumer demand and industrial production slowed down: the Depression was there to stay.
A few years later, Congress passed three laws to make the financial community change their business practices:
a) The Banking Act 1933 (Glass-Steagall Act): deposit-taking and investment banking became two separate activities and the Act also created the Federal Bank Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
b) The Securities Act 1933: new issues of securities had to be registered with the Federal Trade Commission and investors were to be given information concerning them.
c) The Securities Exchange Act 1934: The aim was to keep price manipulation, unfair practices and speculation away from Wall Street. The use of credit to finance business was to be controlled by the Federal Reserve Board.
In 1972 the Securities Industry Automation Corporation (SIAC) was established by the New York and American Stock Exchanges and its main objective was to harmonize the planning, development and operation of all the automated data-processing systems and provide services to American industry on a general basis.
1988 was to be an active year for the Securities and Exchange Commission, the NYSE's watchdog, as they had to inquire into insider trading.
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