问答题

The Stock Exchange

While there are literally thousands of stocks, the ones bought and sold most actively are usually listed on the New York Stock Exchange(NYSE). This exchange dates back to 1792, when 24 New York City stockbrokers and merchants gathered under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street in Manhattan to make some rules about how buying and selling was to be done. Those rules, known as the Buttonwood Agreement, set in motion the NYSE's unwavering commitment to investors and issuers. With a history of over 200 years, the NYSE has become the world's largest financial market and the leading exchange in the United States. It is the place where America invests its money. Listed on the exchange are more than 3,000 enterprises, including approximately 450 operating companies from 50 different countries.
The NYSE, housed in a large building on Wall Street, does the bulk of trading in listed securities. On the trading floor more than 2,200 common and preferred stocks are traded. The NYSE has more than 1,600 members, most of whom represent brokerage houses involved in buying and selling for the public. They buy "seats" on the exchange at considerable expense. They are paid commissions by the buyers and sellers for executing their orders. Almost half a million kilometers of telephone and telegraph wire link the NYSE with brokerage offices around the nation and across the globe.
In addition to the NYSE, there are eight other exchanges around the country. The second largest is the American Stock Exchange, which also operates in the same Wall Street area, and in much the same way, but on a smaller scale. How are stocks bought and sold? Suppose a widow in California wants to go on an ocean cruise. To finance the trip she decides to sell 100 shares of her General Motors stock. The widow calls her stockbroker and directs him to sell at once at the best price. The same day an engineer in Florida decides to use the savings he has accumulated to buy 100 shares of General Motors stock. The engineer calls his broker and asks him to buy the stock at the current price.
Both brokers wire their orders to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. The two brokers, one representing the widow and the other the engineer, negotiate the transaction. One asks, "How much do I have to pay for a hundred shares of General Motors?" The highest bid is $65.25 and the least amount for which anyone has offered to sell is $65.75. Both want to get the best price. So they compromise and agree on a buy/sell at $65.50.
The New York Stock Exchange itself neither buys nor sells stocks; it simply serves as a mechanism by which brokers buy and sell for their clients. Each transaction is carried out in public and the information is sent electronically to every brokerage office in the nation.