n.
- See stock exchange.
- The business transacted at a stock exchange.
- The prices offered for stocks and bonds in general: a rising stock market.
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Dictionary:
stock market (stŏk'mär'kĭt) adj. |
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| Investment Dictionary: Stock Market |
The market in which shares are issued and traded either through exchanges or over-the-counter markets. Also known as the equity market, it is one of the most vital areas of a market economy as it provides companies with access to capital and investors with a slice of ownership in the company and the potential of gains based on the company's future performance.
Investopedia Says:
This market can be split into two main sections: the primary and secondary market. The primary market is where new issues are first offered, with any subsequent trading going on in the secondary market.
Related Links:
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Discover how these two groups work together to keep the market functioning properly. Traders And Investors' Roles In The Marketplace
| Financial & Investment Dictionary: Stock Market |
General term referring to the organized trading of securities through the various physical and electronic exchanges and the Over the Counter market. The securities involved include Common Stock, Preferred Stock, Bonds, Convertibles, Options rights, and warrants. The term may also encompass commodities when used in its most general sense, but more often than not the stock market and the commodities (or futures) market are distinguished. The query "How did the market do today?" is usually answered by a reference to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, comprised of stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange. See also Securities and Commodities Exchanges.
| US History Encyclopedia: Stock Market |
Originating in the Netherlands and Great Britain during the seventeenth century, stock exchanges initially enabled investors to buy and sell shares of companies to raise money for overseas expansion. Called "bourses," these exchanges eventually began dealing in the public securities of banks, insurance companies, and manufacturing firms. Until World War I, the London Stock Exchange was the largest and busiest in the world. Although inaugurated in 1792, when twenty-four New York merchants signed the Buttonwood Agreement, and formally organized in 1817, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which is located on Wall Street in New York City, was small by comparison to the European bourses, with an average of only 100 shares traded per session. The NYSE attained preeminence only after World War I, which had disrupted the financial markets of Europe and transformed the United States into an economic power of the first order.
The Stock Market Crash
Flourishing throughout the 1920s, the stock market crashed on 29 October 1929, bringing to an end the era of economic prosperity and ushering in a new, impoverished age that few understood. Yet the stock market crash did not cause the Great Depression of the 1930s. Rather, the crash was one of the more dramatic symptoms of structural weaknesses in the national and international economies. Between February 1928 and September 1929 prices on the New York Stock Exchange steadily rose. For eighteen months, investors enjoyed a "Bull" market in which almost everyone made money. The cumulative value of stocks in 1929 reached an estimated $67.5 billion, with 1 billion shares traded. The price of stock, however, had long ceased to bear any relation to the earning power of the corporations issuing it. The ratio of corporate earnings to the market price of stocks climbed to 16 to 1; a 10 to 1 ratio was the standard. In the autumn of 1929, the stock market began to fall apart.
On 19 October 1929, stock prices dropped sharply, unnerving Wall Street financiers, brokers, and investors. Big bankers tried to avert a crash by conspicuously buying stock in an attempt to restore public confidence. Ten days later, on "Black Tuesday," all efforts to save the market failed. By 13 November, the crash had wiped out $30 billion in stock value. Most knowledgeable Americans, including Herbert Hoover who had been elected president in November 1929, viewed the crash as a necessary and healthy adjustment provoked by inflated stock and undisciplined speculation. Only paper empires had toppled, Americans reassured themselves. The crash, though, brought down the economies of a number of European countries. The American economy followed. The Great Depression had begun.
What Went Wrong
By 1928 the value of such stocks as the Radio Corporation of America, Radio-Keith-Orpheum (RKO), Westinghouse, United Aircraft, and Southern Securities were grossly inflated, exceeding any reasonable expectation of future earnings. Brokers, however, encouraged speculation in these and other stocks by permitting investors to buy shares on "margin," that is, on credit. Investors paid as little as 25 percent of the purchase price out of their own capital reserves, borrowing the remainder from brokerages or banks and using the stock they were about to buy as collateral. The abrupt decline in stock prices triggered panic selling and forced brokers to issue a "margin call," which required all who had borrowed from them to repay their debts in full. Many had to liquidate their remaining stock to meet their financial obligations, thereby precipitating the crash.
Remedying Abuses
Investigations conducted during the 1930s by the Senate Banking and Currency Committee, under the direction of chief counsel Ferdinand Pecora, uncovered ample evidence of fraud, corruption, misrepresentation, and other unsavory practices in an essentially unregulated stock exchange. To remedy these abuses, Congress passed the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, initiating federal regulation of the stock market. The Securities Act required all companies issuing stock to inform the Federal Trade Commission of their financial condition. Complaints that the new law was too intrusive prompted Congress to revise it. The resulting Securities and Exchange Act established the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and granted it extensive authority to monitor stock exchanges, brokerage houses, and independent dealers. The SEC gained additional regulatory powers through the Public Utilities Holding Company Act of 1935, the Investment Companies Act of 1940, and the Investments Advisers Act of 1940, symbolizing the intention of government to intervene more fully than ever before into the economic life of the nation.
The American Stock Exchange
Located only blocks from the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), which was founded during the 1790s, is the stock market for small companies and small investors. The stock issues of organizations that do not meet the listing and size requirements of the NYSE are commonly traded on the AMEX. Once known as the "New York Curb Exchange" because dealers traded on the street outside brokerage houses in the New York financial district, the AMEX moved indoors in 1921.
Trading on the AMEX reached new heights as the 1990s drew to a close. Average daily trading volume was a record 29 million shares in 1998, up from the previous high of 24.4 million set only a few years earlier. More than 7.3 billion shares changed hands on the AMEX in 1998, up from 6.1 billion a year earlier. By 2000, the number of shares traded on the AMEX had reached 13.318 billion. On the NYSE, by contrast, 307.5 billion shares valued at $10.5 trillion changed hands in 2001, an increase of 17 percent over the 262.5 billion shares traded in 2000.
The National Association of Securities Dealers
In addition to organized exchanges, where brokers and dealers quoted prices on shares of stock, an Over-The-Counter (OTC) market had existed since the 1870s. Congress exerted control over the OTC market with passage of the Maloney Act of 1937, which created the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). Since its inception, the NASD has traded the shares of companies not large enough to be included on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange, or one of the other regional exchanges. In 1971 the NASD developed the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ), becoming the first exchange to use computers to conduct business.
The volume of shares traded made the NASDAQ the largest stock exchange in the world at the end of the 1990s, with a record 202 billion shares changing hands in 1998 alone. Yet, the market value of the NASDAQ, a mere $2.6 trillion in 1998, paled by comparison to the market value of the NYSE, which totaled a staggering $10.9 trillion.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
The principal index for assessing the performance of the stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, dates from 1893 and at present includes thirty NYSE blue-chip stocks chosen by the editors of the Wall Street Journal. The blue-chips are comparatively safe investments with a low yield and a high price per share, but are issued by companies with a long history of good management and steady profits. Included among the blue-chips are the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), American Express, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Eastman Kodak, General Electric, General Motors, IBM, McDonald's, Philip Morris, Proctor and Gamble, Wal-Mart, and Walt Disney.
Bulls and Bears
Until the early 1980s, market analysts heralded the arrival of a "Bull" market when the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached 1,000 points. In a "Bull" market, the price per share rises and investors buy now intending to resale later at a handsome profit. A "Bear" market, by contrast, produces lower share prices; investors sell stocks or bonds intending to repurchase them later at a lower price. The Dow surpassed the 1,000 mark for the first time in 1972. A decade later it reached the unprecedented 2,000 mark before crashing on "Black Monday," 19 October 1987, when it plummeted more than 500 points in a single day and lost 22 percent of its value.
Riding the Bull: the Stock Market in the 1990s
During the 1990s the performance of the stock market was erratic. On 17 April 1991, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 3,000 points for the first time in history. By 1995 the Dow had gained 33.5 percent in value and passed the 4,000 mark. In 1997 the Dow reached a high of 8,000, but began to fluctuate more wildly and unpredictably. In late October 1997, for instance, the stock market came as close to crashing as it had in a decade, when the Dow fell a record 554 points in a single day, equaling 7.2 percent of its total value, only to re-bound with a record 337-point rise the following day. At the end of the week, the market had ebbed and flowed its way to a mark of 7,442.08, the loss of a mere 4 percent in value.
Even when the Dow fell, the value of stocks remained far greater than it had been at the beginning of the decade. By 1998 the Dow had reached 9,000; it closed the century near 11,000 with no apparent limits on its ascent. But analysts could not predict how the market would perform over the short or the long term. Although the market continued to rise steadily, and at times dramatically after 1997, by the end of the decade many experts feared that its volatility suggested the bottom could drop out at any moment.
The Growth of the Stock Market
The unparalleled rise in stock values attracted hundreds of thousands of new investors. By 1997 more than 42 percent of all American families owned stock either directly or through pension plans and mutual funds. Easier access to stock trading through Internet brokerages, which enabled investors to trade stocks without a broker for commissions as low as $5 per trade, added significantly to the numbers of those who ventured into the market. By 1999 more than 6.3 million households in the United States had on-line trading accounts, with assets totaling $400 billion. The popularity of on-line trading encouraged people to conduct more transactions, and to buy and sell more quickly in order to take advantage of short-term changes in the market.
During the 1990s the percentage of wealth invested in the stock market grew at an alarming rate. As recently as 1990, Americans had entrusted only 16 percent of their wealth to the stock market. Even during the "Bull" market of the 1980s, the portion of income devoted to securities never exceeded 19 percent. At the end of the twentieth century, by contrast, stock investments composed a record 34 percent of Americans' aggregate wealth, amounting to more than the value of their homes. A prolonged decline in stocks would thus prove cataclysmic for the millions who relied on the market to ensure their financial welfare now and in the future.
Permanent Prosperity?
Market analysts, nevertheless, remained optimistic. Many looked forward to an endlessly prosperous future, believing that the American economy had undergone a fundamental structural change. The advent of information technology, the global market, and world peace promised to generate unprecedented corporate earnings and continually rising stock prices. Those who shared this perspective postulated a "long boom" that would carry the American economy past all the difficulties and limitations that had hampered it in the past.
By the end of 2000, however, a series of government reports disclosed surprising weaknesses in the economy, giving rise to speculation that the eight-year period of uninterrupted growth was about to come to an end. In response to rumors of a general economic slowdown, the stock market fell. By 21 December 2000, the NASDAQ Index, dominated by high-tech stocks, had lost nearly half of its value, declining to 2,332.78. The Dow Jones Industrial Average held steadier, closing above 10,600 points, but by the end of the year optimism on Wall Street had evaporated amid apprehension over corporate earnings that were lower than expected. Stock prices tumbled, losing approximately $1 trillion in just a few months. Throughout 2001 and 2002, especially after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, economists were concerned that the continued decline in stock values would trigger a reduction in capital investment and consumer spending, the two forces that had sustained the economic boom of the 1990s.
In the wake of corporate scandals and the resultant loss of public confidence, the stock market plummeted during the second quarter of 2002. After reaching its peak in January 2000, the Dow lost 34 percent of its value over the next two-and-one-half years. During the same period, the NASDAQ composite plunged 75 percent, the worst decline for a major index since the Great Depression. The market subsequently rallied, but few analysts were willing to predict what would happen next during one of the most volatile periods in the history of the market.
Bibliography
Friedman, Milton, and Anna J. Schwartz. The Great Contraction, 1929–1933. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1965.
Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Great Crash. Reprint ed. Boston: Mariner Books, 1997.
Geisst, Charles R. Wall Street: A History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Longman, Philip J. "Is Prosperity Permanent?" U.S. News & World Report 123 (November 10, 1997): 36–39.
Parrish, Michael E. Securities Regulation and the New Deal. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1970.
Seligman, Joel. The Transformation of Wall Street: A History of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Modern Corporate Finance. Rev. ed. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1995.
Sobel, Robert. AMEX: A History of the American Stock Exchange. Frederick, Md.: The Beard Group, 2000.
———. The Big Board: A History of the New York Stock Exchange. Frederick, Md.: The Beard Group, 2000.
White, Eugene N. "The Stock Market Boom and Crash Revisited." Journal of Economic Perspectives (Spring 1990): 67–83.
| Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia: Stock Market |
Middle Eastern stock markets are small and often closed to foreign investors.
The stock markets of the Middle East tend to remain relatively small relative to the respective economies of each country, and except in Turkey and Israel are not used by entrepreneurs to fund their operations.
Even in countries where economic liberalism is embedded in the economic life, such as Saudi Arabia, capital markets are heavily regulated and have not had any major influence in helping non-government firms raise capital from the public at large. Exchanges suffer from a lack of reliable information on and from the companies, insider trading is often a problem, and accounting practices are not reliable enough for private investors and funds to make adequate judgment on the value of the companies. Governments tend to interfere with the markets, either to limit their expansion through overregulation or to limit the losses in downtrends, as was the case in Kuwait in 1982. In most countries the markets have little depth and are closed to foreign investors. Since 1998 there have been some efforts to use the markets to improve privatization efforts. Foreign investors have been welcomed in some bourses, such as those of Egypt, Lebanon, and Israel. However, most other markets have limited foreigners to investment through small mutual funds managed by local banks, as in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi market has the largest capitalization of the Arab world, at about US$100 billion.
Bahrain
The market in Bahrain is still very small and highly regulated. However, it is beginning to open up to foreign investors if they reside in Bahrain. Each foreign investor is limited to a maximum 1 percent stake in a company. If markets become more deregulated in Bahrain and if Saudi Arabia - the main center for private industrial ventures - approves, this stock market could become an important place for Persian (Arabian) Gulf industries to raise capital.
Iran
In the liberalization of 1992 the Iranian stock market was expected to be the transmission belt between Iranian capital at home and abroad and the companies to be denationalized. Foreign capital was permitted to buy minority positions. However, the move toward liberalization seems to have stalled, and the market is not very active.
Israel
The Israeli stock exchange is located in Tel Aviv. It lists about 654 companies and has a capitalization of US$41 billion. The market is open to foreign investors. Technically, the market is quite advanced, with computer support similar to that of U.S. markets. However, volumes traded are relatively low, in the average range of $36 million per day in 2002. The market tends to be somewhat volatile due to the
| Country traded | Number of companies | Capitalization (in millions of U.S. $) |
| SOURCE: Zawya, online at http://www.zawya.com; Tehran Stock Exchange, online at http://www.tse.or.ir; Istanbul Stock Exchange, online at http://www.ise.org; Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, online at http://www.tase.co.il; Middle East Economic Survey; Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, online at http://www.sama.gov.sa | ||
| TABLE BY GGS INFORMATION SERVICES, THE GALE GROUP. | ||
| Israel | 617 | 40,900 |
| Turkey | 262 | 33,800 |
| Saudi Arabia | 68 | 100,000 |
| Kuwait | 93 | 35,100 |
| Jordan | 76 | 1,664 |
| Iran | 324 | 65,000 |
| Egypt | 1,110 | 18,400 |
low number of buyers and sellers. The progress of the markets is marked by the TASE index.
Jordan
The Jordanian market, which was started in 1977, is still small in terms of volume but has a good reputation among investors. Foreign investors need to be approved by the government, which greatly limits the liquidity of the shares and the potential growth of the market.
Kuwait
Until 1982 the Kuwaiti capital markets were the largest in the Middle East. After the crash of the Suq al-Manakh, the government enforced old regulations and introduced new ones. The number of brokers, the number of companies eligible to be traded, and the daily volumes are limited. The 1991 Gulf War, which caused many industrial companies to disappear, limited the number of tradable issues to the financial institutions. Kuwaiti-owned companies based in Bahrain and elsewhere in the Gulf also are traded. No foreigners are allowed to trade in Kuwaiti shares, except Gulf Cooperation Council nationals.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, despite having the largest volume of shares traded in the Gulf, does not have a stock exchange or trading floor. All shares are exchanged and cleared through the banks. To have shares traded, companies must be registered as Sharikat alMusahama, a registration somewhat similar to a U.S. Corporation C. To obtain this status, companies must be vetted by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency and, until 1992, also needed approval by the king. Only firms not involved in defense or oil are allowed to register. Thus, Saudi firms have a very difficult time raising money directly from the public through the stock market. No foreign capital is allowed to trade in Saudi shares, except in limited circumstances if originating from within the Gulf Cooperation Council. Since 11 September 2001, the Saudi stock market index has become more popular. The number of shares traded has increased from 691 million in 2001 to 1736 million in 2002. In an overall declining world market, TASI, the Saudi stock exchange index, increased 5.7 percent between 2001 and February 2003.
Turkey
The stock exchange in Turkey got its impetus from a 1989 law on investments. The law strongly restricts insider trading, provides for proper financial reporting by companies, and authorizes foreigners to invest. By 1993 the Turkish market had become one of the leading emerging markets, with investments from many U.S. and European mutual funds.
— JEAN-FRANÇOIS SEZNEC
| Law Encyclopedia: Stock Market |
The various organized stock exchanges and over-the-counter mar- kets.
The trading of securities such as stocks and bonds is conducted in stock exchanges, which are grouped under the general term stock market. The stock market is an important institution for capitalist countries because it encourages investment in corporate securities, providing capital for new businesses and income for investors. In the 1990s large numbers of ordinary persons have come to own stock through pension funds, deferred employee savings plans, investment clubs, or mutual funds.
The New York Stock Exchange is the oldest (formed in 1792) and largest stock exchange in the United States, but other exchanges operate in many major U.S. cities. The activities of the stock market are closely monitored by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission to prevent the manipulation of stock prices and other activities that lessen investor confidence.
Stock exchanges are private organizations with a limited number of members. Stock brokerage houses generally cannot purchase seats on an exchange. Instead, a member of the firm holds a seat personally. In some cases several partners of a brokerage house will be members of an exchange. The price of a seat fluctuates depending on the state of the economy, but seats on the New York Stock Exchange have sold for more than $1 million.
Some exchange members are specialists in particular types of securities, while others act as agents for other brokers. A small number of brokers who pay an annual fee but are not members also have access to the trading floor.
A stock exchange is essentially a marketplace for stocks and bonds, with stockbrokers earning small commissions on each transaction they make. Stocks that are handled by one or more stock exchanges are called listed stocks. For a corporation's stock to be listed on an exchange, the company must meet certain exchange requirements. Each exchange has its own criteria and standards, but in general a company must show that it has sufficient capital and is in sound financial condition. Once a company is listed, trading in its stock will be suspended if the company's financial condition deteriorates to the point that it no longer meets the exchange's minimum requirements.
When a person wishes to purchase a stock, she places an order with a brokerage house. The broker gets a quotation or price and sends the order to the firm's representative on the floor of the stock exchange. The representative negotiates the sale and notifies the brokerage house. Transactions happen rapidly, and each one is recorded on a computer system and sent immediately to an electronic ticker that displays stock information on a screen. At one time this information was generally only available at stock brokerage houses, but the daily stock ticker is now available on television and through the Internet.
New York Stock Exchange transactions may be made in three ways. A cash transaction requires payment and delivery of the stock on the day of purchase. A regular transaction requires payment and delivery of the stock by noon on the third day following a full business day. Around 95 percent of stock is purchased under these terms. Finally, purchase can be made through a seller's option contract, which requires payment and delivery of the stock within any specified time not exceeding sixty days, though seven days is the most common period.
All transactions not made in the stock exchanges take place in over-the-counter (OTC) trading. An OTC transaction is not an auction on the stock exchange floor but a negotiation between a seller and a buyer. Most sales of bonds occur in OTC trading as do most new issues of securities. In the 1980s discount OTC brokerage firms appeared, offering lower commissions on stock transactions for investors who were willing to do more research on their own. By the 1990s these firms had proliferated.
Dealers in OTC trading are not confined just to large cities, as are stock exchanges, but can be found in many locations throughout the United States. In 1971 these firms were linked to an electronic communications system and became NASDAQ, the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations. By the 1990s NASDAQ had become the second largest U.S. stock market.
The health of the U.S. economy is typically measured by the stock market. When stock prices rise and there is a "bull market," U.S. business is assumed to be doing well. When stock prices fall and there is a "bear market," this is usually an indication of a downturn in business and the economy.
See: common stock.
| Economics Dictionary: stock market |
A market in which stocks are bought and sold (see stock exchange). Also, the general condition of the sale of securities in a corporation.
| Blogs: Related blogs on: stock market |
| Quotes About: Stock Market |
Quotes:
"The freedom to make a fortune on the stock exchange has been made to sound more alluring than freedom of speech."
- John Mortimer
"October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February."
- Mark Twain
"The only reason to invest in the market is because you think you know something others don't."
- R. Foster Winans
| Wikipedia: Stock market |
| This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2008) |
A stock market is a public market for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.
The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion US at the beginning of October 2008. [1] The total world derivatives market has been estimated at about $791 trillion face or nominal value, [2] 11 times the size of the entire world economy. [3] The value of the derivatives market, because it is stated in terms of notional values, cannot be directly compared to a stock or a fixed income security, which traditionally refers to an actual value. Moreover, the vast majority of derivatives 'cancel' each other out (i.e., a derivative 'bet' on an event occurring is offset by a comparable derivative 'bet' on the event not occurring.). Many such relatively illiquid securities are valued as marked to model, rather than an actual market price.
The stocks are listed and traded on stock exchanges which are entities of a corporation or mutual organization specialized in the business of bringing buyers and sellers of the organizations to a listing of stocks and securities together. The stock market in the United States is NYSE while in Canada, it is the Toronto Stock Exchange. Major European examples of stock exchanges include the London Stock Exchange, Paris Bourse, and the Deutsche Börse. Asian examples include the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the Bombay Stock Exchange. In Latin America, there are such exchanges as the BM&F Bovespa and the BMV.
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Participants in the stock market range from small individual stock investors to large hedge fund traders, who can be based anywhere. Their orders usually end up with a professional at a stock exchange, who executes the order.
Some exchanges are physical locations where transactions are carried out on a trading floor, by a method known as open outcry. This type of auction is used in stock exchanges and commodity exchanges where traders may enter "verbal" bids and offers simultaneously. The other type of stock exchange is a virtual kind, composed of a network of computers where trades are made electronically via traders.
Actual trades are based on an auction market model where a potential buyer bids a specific price for a stock and a potential seller asks a specific price for the stock. (Buying or selling at market means you will accept any ask price or bid price for the stock, respectively.) When the bid and ask prices match, a sale takes place, on a first-come-first-served basis if there are multiple bidders or askers at a given price.
The purpose of a stock exchange is to facilitate the exchange of securities between buyers and sellers, thus providing a marketplace (virtual or real). The exchanges provide real-time trading information on the listed securities, facilitating price discovery.
The New York Stock Exchange is a physical exchange, also referred to as a listed exchange — only stocks listed with the exchange may be traded. Orders enter by way of exchange members and flow down to a floor broker, who goes to the floor trading post specialist for that stock to trade the order. The specialist's job is to match buy and sell orders using open outcry. If a spread exists, no trade immediately takes place--in this case the specialist should use his/her own resources (money or stock) to close the difference after his/her judged time. Once a trade has been made the details are reported on the "tape" and sent back to the brokerage firm, which then notifies the investor who placed the order. Although there is a significant amount of human contact in this process, computers play an important role, especially for so-called "program trading".
The NASDAQ is a virtual listed exchange, where all of the trading is done over a computer network. The process is similar to the New York Stock Exchange. However, buyers and sellers are electronically matched. One or more NASDAQ market makers will always provide a bid and ask price at which they will always purchase or sell 'their' stock. [1].
The Paris Bourse, now part of Euronext, is an order-driven, electronic stock exchange. It was automated in the late 1980s. Prior to the 1980s, it consisted of an open outcry exchange. Stockbrokers met on the trading floor or the Palais Brongniart. In 1986, the CATS trading system was introduced, and the order matching process was fully automated.
From time to time, active trading (especially in large blocks of securities) have moved away from the 'active' exchanges. Securities firms, led by UBS AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Credit Suisse Group, already steer 12 percent of U.S. security trades away from the exchanges to their internal systems. That share probably will increase to 18 percent by 2010 as more investment banks bypass the NYSE and NASDAQ and pair buyers and sellers of securities themselves, according to data compiled by Boston-based Aite Group LLC, a brokerage-industry consultant[citation needed].
Now that computers have eliminated the need for trading floors like the Big Board's, the balance of power in equity markets is shifting. By bringing more orders in-house, where clients can move big blocks of stock anonymously, brokers pay the exchanges less in fees and capture a bigger share of the $11 billion a year that institutional investors pay in trading commissions as well as the surplus of the century had taken place.[citation needed].
A few decades ago, worldwide, buyers and sellers were individual investors, such as wealthy businessmen, with long family histories (and emotional ties) to particular corporations. Over time, markets have become more "institutionalized"; buyers and sellers are largely institutions (e.g., pension funds, insurance companies, mutual funds, index funds, exchange-traded funds, hedge funds, investor groups, banks and various other financial institutions). The rise of the institutional investor has brought with it some improvements in market operations. Thus, the government was responsible for "fixed" (and exorbitant) fees being markedly reduced for the 'small' investor, but only after the large institutions had managed to break the brokers' solid front on fees. (They then went to 'negotiated' fees, but only for large institutions.[citation needed])
However, corporate governance (at least in the West) has been very much adversely affected by the rise of (largely 'absentee') institutional 'owners'.[citation needed]
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This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009) |
In 12th century France the courratiers de change were concerned with managing and regulating the debts of agricultural communities on behalf of the banks. Because these men also traded with debts, they could be called the first brokers. A common misbelief is that in late 13th century Bruges commodity traders gathered inside the house of a man called Van der Beurze, and in 1309 they became the "Brugse Beurse", institutionalizing what had been, until then, an informal meeting, but actually, the family Van der Beurze had a building in Antwerp where those gatherings occurred [2]; the Van der Beurze had Antwerp, as most of the merchants of that period, as their primary place for trading. The idea quickly spread around Flanders and neighboring counties and "Beurzen" soon opened in Ghent and Amsterdam.
In the middle of the 13th century, Venetian bankers began to trade in government securities. In 1351 the Venetian government outlawed spreading rumors intended to lower the price of government funds. Bankers in Pisa, Verona, Genoa and Florence also began trading in government securities during the 14th century. This was only possible because these were independent city states not ruled by a duke but a council of influential citizens. The Dutch later started joint stock companies, which let shareholders invest in business ventures and get a share of their profits - or losses. In 1602, the Dutch East India Company issued the first share on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. It was the first company to issue stocks and bonds.
The Amsterdam Stock Exchange (or Amsterdam Beurs) is also said to have been the first stock exchange to introduce continuous trade in the early 17th century. The Dutch "pioneered short selling, option trading, debt-equity swaps, merchant banking, unit trusts and other speculative instruments, much as we know them"[4]. There are now stock markets in virtually every developed and most developing economies, with the world's biggest markets being in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, India, China, Canada, Germany, France and the Netherlands.[5]
The stock market is one of the most important sources for companies to raise money. This allows businesses to be publicly traded, or raise additional capital for expansion by selling shares of ownership of the company in a public market. The liquidity that an exchange provides affords investors the ability to quickly and easily sell securities. This is an attractive feature of investing in stocks, compared to other less liquid investments such as real estate.
History has shown that the price of shares and other assets is an important part of the dynamics of economic activity, and can influence or be an indicator of social mood. An economy where the stock market is on the rise is considered to be an up and coming economy. In fact, the stock market is often considered the primary indicator of a country's economic strength and development. Rising share prices, for instance, tend to be associated with increased business investment and vice versa. Share prices also affect the wealth of households and their consumption. Therefore, central banks tend to keep an eye on the control and behavior of the stock market and, in general, on the smooth operation of financial system functions. Financial stability is the raison d'être of central banks.
Exchanges also act as the clearinghouse for each transaction, meaning that they collect and deliver the shares, and guarantee payment to the seller of a security. This eliminates the risk to an individual buyer or seller that the counterparty could default on the transaction.
The smooth functioning of all these activities facilitates economic growth in that lower costs and enterprise risks promote the production of goods and services as well as employment. In this way the financial system contributes to increased prosperity. An important aspect of modern financial markets, however, including the stock markets, is absolute discretion. For example, in the USA stock markets we see more unrestrained acceptance of any firm than in smaller markets. Such as, Chinese firms with no significant value to American society to just name one segment. This profits USA bankers on Wall Street, as they reap large commissions from the placement, and the Chinese company which yields funds to invest in China. Yet accrues no intrinsic value to the long-term stability of the American economy, rather just short-term profits to American business men and the Chinese; although, when the foreign company has a presence in the new market, there can be benefits to the market's citizens. Conversely, there are very few large foreign corporations listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange TSX, Canada's largest stock exchange. This discretion has insulated Canada to some degree to worldwide financial conditions. In order for the stock markets to truly facilitate economic growth via lower costs and better employment, great attention must be given to the foreign participants being allowed in.
The financial systems in most western countries has undergone a remarkable transformation. One feature of this development is disintermediation. A portion of the funds involved in saving and financing flows directly to the financial markets instead of being routed via the traditional bank lending and deposit operations. The general public's heightened interest in investing in the stock market, either directly or through mutual funds, has been an important component of this process. Statistics show that in recent decades shares have made up an increasingly large proportion of households' financial assets in many countries. In the 1970s, in Sweden, deposit accounts and other very liquid assets with little risk made up almost 60 percent of households' financial wealth, compared to less than 20 percent in the 2000s. The major part of this adjustment in financial portfolios has gone directly to shares but a good deal now takes the form of various kinds of institutional investment for groups of individuals, e.g., pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, insurance investment of premiums, etc. The trend towards forms of saving with a higher risk has been accentuated by new rules for most funds and insurance, permitting a higher proportion of shares to bonds. Similar tendencies are to be found in other industrialized countries. In all developed economic systems, such as the European Union, the United States, Japan and other developed nations, the trend has been the same: saving has moved away from traditional (government insured) bank deposits to more risky securities of one sort or another.
Riskier long-term saving requires that an individual possess the ability to manage the associated increased risks. Stock prices fluctuate widely, in marked contrast to the stability of (government insured) bank deposits or bonds. This is something that could affect not only the individual investor or household, but also the economy on a large scale. The following deals with some of the risks of the financial sector in general and the stock market in particular. This is certainly more important now that so many newcomers have entered the stock market, or have acquired other 'risky' investments (such as 'investment' property, i.e., real estate and collectables).
With each passing year, the noise level in the stock market rises. Television commentators, financial writers, analysts, and market strategists are all overtaking each other to get investors' attention. At the same time, individual investors, immersed in chat rooms and message boards, are exchanging questionable and often misleading tips. Yet, despite all this available information, investors find it increasingly difficult to profit. Stock prices skyrocket with little reason, then plummet just as quickly, and people who have turned to investing for their children's education and their own retirement become frightened. Sometimes there appears to be no rhyme or reason to the market, only folly.
This is a quote from the preface to a published biography about the long-term value-oriented stock investor Warren Buffett.[6] Buffett began his career with $100, and $105,000 from seven limited partners consisting of Buffett's family and friends. Over the years he has built himself a multi-billion-dollar fortune. The quote illustrates some of what has been happening in the stock market during the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.
From experience we know that investors may 'temporarily' move financial prices away from their long term aggregate price 'trends'. (Positive or up trends are referred to as bull markets; negative or down trends are referred to as bear markets.) Over-reactions may occur—so that excessive optimism (euphoria) may drive prices unduly high or excessive pessimism may drive prices unduly low. New theoretical and empirical arguments have since been put forward against the notion that financial markets are 'generally' efficient (i.e., in the sense that stock prices in the aggregate tend to follow a Gaussian distribution).
According to the efficient market hypothesis (EMH), only changes in fundamental factors, such as the outlook for margins, profits or dividends, ought to affect share prices beyond the short term, where random 'noise' in the system may prevail. (But this largely theoretic academic viewpoint—known as 'hard' EMH—also predicts that little or no trading should take place, contrary to fact, since prices are already at or near equilibrium, having priced in all public knowledge.) The 'hard' efficient-market hypothesis is sorely tested by such events as the stock market crash in 1987, when the Dow Jones index plummeted 22.6 percent—the largest-ever one-day fall in the United States. This event demonstrated that share prices can fall dramatically even though, to this day, it is impossible to fix a generally agreed upon definite cause: a thorough search failed to detect any 'reasonable' development that might have accounted for the crash. (But note that such events are predicted to occur strictly by chance , although very rarely.) It seems also to be the case more generally that many price movements (beyond that which are predicted to occur 'randomly') are not occasioned by new information; a study of the fifty largest one-day share price movements in the United States in the post-war period seems to confirm this.[7]
However, a 'soft' EMH has emerged which does not require that prices remain at or near equilibrium, but only that market participants not be able to systematically profit from any momentary market 'inefficiencies'. Moreover, while EMH predicts that all price movement (in the absence of change in fundamental information) is random (i.e., non-trending), many studies have shown a marked tendency for the stock market to trend over time periods of weeks or longer. Various explanations for such large and apparently non-random price movements have been promulgated. For instance, some research has shown that changes in estimated risk, and the use of certain strategies, such as stop-loss limits and Value at Risk limits, theoretically could cause financial markets to overreact. But the best explanation seems to be that the distribution of stock market prices is non-Gaussian (in which case EMH, in any of its current forms, would not be strictly applicable). [8] [9]
Other research has shown that psychological factors may result in exaggerated (statistically anomalous) stock price movements (contrary to EMH which assumes such behaviors 'cancel out'). Psychological research has demonstrated that people are predisposed to 'seeing' patterns, and often will perceive a pattern in what is, in fact, just noise. (Something like seeing familiar shapes in clouds or ink blots.) In the present context this means that a succession of good news items about a company may lead investors to overreact positively (unjustifiably driving the price up). A period of good returns also boosts the investor's self-confidence, reducing his (psychological) risk threshold.[10]
Another phenomenon—also from psychology—that works against an objective assessment is group thinking. As social animals, it is not easy to stick to an opinion that differs markedly from that of a majority of the group. An example with which one may be familiar is the reluctance to enter a restaurant that is empty; people generally prefer to have their opinion validated by those of others in the group.
In one paper the authors draw an analogy with gambling.[11] In normal times the market behaves like a game of roulette; the probabilities are known and largely independent of the investment decisions of the different players. In times of market stress, however, the game becomes more like poker (herding behavior takes over). The players now must give heavy weight to the psychology of other investors and how they are likely to react psychologically.
The stock market, as any other business, is quite unforgiving of amateurs. Inexperienced investors rarely get the assistance and support they need. In the period running up to the 1987 crash, less than 1 percent of the analyst's recommendations had been to sell (and even during the 2000 - 2002 bear market, the average did not rise above 5%). In the run up to 2000, the media amplified the general euphoria, with reports of rapidly rising share prices and the notion that large sums of money could be quickly earned in the so-called new economy stock market. (And later amplified the gloom which descended during the 2000 - 2002 bear market, so that by summer of 2002, predictions of a DOW average below 5000 were quite common.)
Sometimes the market seems to react irrationally to economic or financial news, even if that news is likely to have no real effect on the technical value of securities itself. But this may be more apparent than real, since often such news has been anticipated, and a counterreaction may occur if the news is better (or worse) than expected. Therefore, the stock market may be swayed in either direction by press releases, rumors, euphoria and mass panic; but generally only briefly, as more experienced investors (especially the hedge funds) quickly rally to take advantage of even the slightest, momentary hysteria.
Over the short-term, stocks and other securities can be battered or buoyed by any number of fast market-changing events, making the stock market behavior difficult to predict. Emotions can drive prices up and down, people are generally not as rational as they think, and the reasons for buying and selling are generally obscure. Behaviorists argue that investors often behave 'irrationally' when making investment decisions thereby incorrectly pricing securities, which causes market inefficiencies, which, in turn, are opportunities to make money[12]. However, the whole notion of EMH is that these non-rational reactions to information cancel out, leaving the prices of stocks rationally determined.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average biggest gain in one day was 936.42 points or 11 percent, this occurred on October 13, 2008.[13]
| The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (March 2009) |
A stock market crash is often defined as a sharp dip in share prices of equities listed on the stock exchanges. In parallel with various economic factors, a reason for stock market crashes is also due to panic and investing public's loss of confidence. Often, stock market crashes end speculative economic bubbles.
There have been famous stock market crashes that have ended in the loss of billions of dollars and wealth destruction on a massive scale. An increasing number of people are involved in the stock market, especially since the social security and retirement plans are being increasingly privatized and linked to stocks and bonds and other elements of the market. There have been a number of famous stock market crashes like the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the stock market crash of 1973–4, the Black Monday of 1987, the Dot-com bubble of 2000, and the Stock Market Crash of 2008.
One of the most famous stock market crashes started October 24, 1929 on Black Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial lost 50% during this stock market crash. It was the beginning of the Great Depression. Another famous crash took place on October 19, 1987 – Black Monday. On Black Monday itself, the Dow Jones fell by 22.6% after completing a 5 year continuous rise in share prices. This event not only shook the USA, but quickly spread across the world. Thus, by the end of October, stock exchanges in Australia lost 41.8%, in Canada lost 22.5%, in Hong Kong lost 45.8%, and in Great Britain lost 26.4%. The names “Black Monday” and “Black Tuesday” are also used for October 28-29, 1929, which followed Terrible Thursday--the starting day of the stock market crash in 1929. The crash in 1987 raised some puzzles-–main news and events did not predict the catastrophe and visible reasons for the collapse were not identified. This event raised questions about many important assumptions of modern economics, namely, the theory of rational human conduct, the theory of market equilibrium and the hypothesis of market efficiency. For some time after the crash, trading in stock exchanges worldwide was halted, since the exchange computers did not perform well owing to enormous quantity of trades being received at one time. This halt in trading allowed the Federal Reserve system and central banks of other countries to take measures to control the spreading of worldwide financial crisis. In the United States the SEC introduced several new measures of control into the stock market in an attempt to prevent a re-occurrence of the events of Black Monday. Computer systems were upgraded in the stock exchanges to handle larger trading volumes in a more accurate and controlled manner. The SEC modified the margin requirements in an attempt to lower the volatility of common stocks, stock options and the futures market. The New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange introduced the concept of a circuit breaker. The circuit breaker halts trading if the Dow declines a prescribed number of points for a prescribed amount of time.
| % drop | time of drop | close trading for |
|---|---|---|
| 10% drop | before 2PM | one hour halt |
| 10% drop | 2PM - 2:30PM | half-hour halt |
| 10% drop | after 2:30PM | market stays open |
| 20% drop | before 1PM | halt for two hours |
| 20% drop | 1PM - 2PM | halt for one hour |
| 20% drop | after 2PM | close for the day |
| 30% drop | any time during day | close for the day |
The movements of the prices in a market or section of a market are captured in price indices called stock market indices, of which there are many, e.g., the S&P, the FTSE and the Euronext indices. Such indices are usually market capitalization weighted, with the weights reflecting the contribution of the stock to the index. The constituents of the index are reviewed frequently to include/exclude stocks in order to reflect the changing business environment.
Financial innovation has brought many new financial instruments whose pay-offs or values depend on the prices of stocks. Some examples are exchange-traded funds (ETFs), stock index and stock options, equity swaps, single-stock futures, and stock index futures. These last two may be traded on futures exchanges (which are distinct from stock exchanges—their history traces back to commodities futures exchanges), or traded over-the-counter. As all of these products are only derived from stocks, they are sometimes considered to be traded in a (hypothetical) derivatives market, rather than the (hypothetical) stock market.
Stock that a trader does not actually own may be traded using short selling; margin buying may be used to purchase stock with borrowed funds; or, derivatives may be used to control large blocks of stocks for a much smaller amount of money than would be required by outright purchase or sale.
In short selling, the trader borrows stock (usually from his brokerage which holds its clients' shares or its own shares on account to lend to short sellers) then sells it on the market, hoping for the price to fall. The trader eventually buys back the stock, making money if the price fell in the meantime or losing money if it rose. Exiting a short position by buying back the stock is called "covering a short position." This strategy may also be used by unscrupulous traders to artificially lower the price of a stock. Hence most markets either prevent short selling or place restrictions on when and how a short sale can occur. The practice of naked shorting is illegal in most (but not all) stock markets.
In margin buying, the trader borrows money (at interest) to buy a stock and hopes for it to rise. Most industrialized countries have regulations that require that if the borrowing is based on collateral from other stocks the trader owns outright, it can be a maximum of a certain percentage of those other stocks' value. In the United States, the margin requirements have been 50% for many years (that is, if you want to make a $1000 investment, you need to put up $500, and there is often a maintenance margin below the $500). A margin call is made if the total value of the investor's account cannot support the loss of the trade. (Upon a decline in the value of the margined securities additional funds may be required to maintain the account's equity, and with or without notice the margined security or any others within the account may be sold by the brokerage to protect its loan position. The investor is responsible for any shortfall following such forced sales.) Regulation of margin requirements (by the Federal Reserve) was implemented after the Crash of 1929. Before that, speculators typically only needed to put up as little as 10 percent (or even less) of the total investment represented by the stocks purchased. Other rules may include the prohibition of free-riding: putting in an order to buy stocks without paying initially (there is normally a three-day grace period for delivery of the stock), but then selling them (before the three-days are up) and using part of the proceeds to make the original payment (assuming that the value of the stocks has not declined in the interim).
Global issuance of equity and equity-related instruments totaled $505 billion in 2004, a 29.8% increase over the $389 billion raised in 2003. Initial public offerings (IPOs) by US issuers increased 221% with 233 offerings that raised $45 billion, and IPOs in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) increased by 333%, from $ 9 billion to $39 billion.
One of the many things people always want to know about the stock market is, "How do I make money investing?" There are many different approaches; two basic methods are classified as either fundamental analysis or technical analysis. Fundamental analysis refers to analyzing companies by their financial statements found in SEC Filings, business trends, general economic conditions, etc. Technical analysis studies price actions in markets through the use of charts and quantitative techniques to attempt to forecast price trends regardless of the company's financial prospects. One example of a technical strategy is the Trend following method, used by John W. Henry and Ed Seykota, which uses price patterns, utilizes strict money management and is also rooted in risk control and diversification.
Additionally, many choose to invest via the index method. In this method, one holds a weighted or unweighted portfolio consisting of the entire stock market or some segment of the stock market (such as the S&P 500 or Wilshire 5000). The principal aim of this strategy is to maximize diversification, minimize taxes from too frequent trading, and ride the general trend of the stock market (which, in the U.S., has averaged nearly 10%/year, compounded annually, since World War II).
According to much national or state legislation, a large array of fiscal obligations are taxed for capital gains. Taxes are charged by the state over the transactions, dividends and capital gains on the stock market, in particular in the stock exchanges. However, these fiscal obligations may vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction because, among other reasons, it could be assumed that taxation is already incorporated into the stock price through the different taxes companies pay to the state, or that tax free stock market operations are useful to boost economic growth.
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