The World of Finance
FINA310
AIU
Brandi Cameron

The World of Finance
A leading global operator of financial markets and provider of innovative trading technologies, NYSE Euronext is the holding company and the first cross-border exchange group created by the combination of NYSE Group, Inc. and Euronext N.V., on April 4, 2007. The Company’s exchanges located in Europe and the United States trade equities, futures, options, fixed-income, and exchange-traded products. With approximately 8,000 listed issue from more than 55 countries, NYSE Euronext's equities markets—the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Euronext, NYSE Amex, NYSE Alternext and NYSE Arca—represent one-third of the worlds equities trading and the most liquidity of any global exchange group (NYSE Euronext, 2011).
NYSE Euronext began trading publicly on March 8, 2006 under the NYX ticker. The historic combination of the NYSE Group and Euronext in 2007 created the first truly global exchange group, and brought together major marketplaces across Europe and the United States, whose histories stretch back more than four centuries, including the New York Stock Exchange which was formed with the signing of the Buttonwood Agreement in 1792. NYSE Euronext is represented in the S&P 500 index, and is the only exchange operator in the Fortune 500 (Nyse Euronext, 2011). As one can see, the NYSE Euronext has been in operation for hundreds of years. It provides people with the ability to trade globally and locally. This overview of the NYSE Euronext provides information about the organization that will be used later in the paper.
Next, the NASDAQ will be discussed and then a comparison of the two will follow. Created in 1971, the NASDAQ was the world's first electronic stock market and is now the largest U.S. electronic stock exchange. With approximately 3,300 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market and, on average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. It is home to companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, financial services, transportation, media and biotechnology. Stocks traded are usually the smaller, more volatile corporations and include many startup companies. Although stocks trading here must meet certain minimum requirements, those requirements for size, profitability etc. is less rigid than the NYSE (Stockexchangesecrets.com, 2011).
As you can see, both of these organizations are very important to the economy of the U.S. and the world. There are similarities between the two organizations and differences. They are similar in the fact that both are organizations that were designed to allow businesses and individuals to buy, sell, and trade different items. The differences between them are what they allow people and businesses to trade, and the requirements set forth by each organization that determine which organizations are allowed to trade within the organization. New York Stock Exchange listed companies are among the world’s biggest and best. They range from 'blue-chip' companies that have been trading for decades, to young, high-growth corporations. There are approximately 2,800 companies listed (Stockexchangesecrets.com, 2011).
The NYSE has a status called 'members'. A member firm is a company or individual who owns or leases a "seat". Only these member firms are allowed to buy and sell securities on the trading floor. The member firms must meet rigorous professional standards set by the Exchange. The number of seats has remained constant, at 1,366, since 1953. Since 1868 it has been possible for members to sell or lease their seats after a change in the rules of the exchange.
The NYSE can trace its history all the way back to 1792 when the Buttonwood Agreement was signed to commit to the highest standards to investors and companies.
No matter how you may view it, the New York Stock Exchange has to maintain very high standards of ethics and conduct at very competitive prices. In the modern world, there are so many global companies with a 'foot' in many financial centers that it would be relatively easy for them to uproot and move to a new more competitive location (Stockexchangesecrets.com, 2011). So, there are obviously some pretty big differences between these two organizations but their importance in our society is equal. Next, The Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 will be described. This Act was passed to protect investors from overzealous brokers who may advise them to invest in risky segments of the market without diversifying their portfolio for protection. There had been a belief that the market was incapable of going down and now, as we all have seen, this is not the case and many people have lost everything they had due to bad advice. This Act was passed in order to protect investors. This paper has covered two major organizations, or holding companies, that are the heart and soul of the American economy. Without these organizations, businesses would be much more limited in their abilities to obtain investors, trade, and keep investors and shareholders. In fact, without shareholders and investors, there would only be two forms of businesses instead of three. The corporation structure as we know it would not exist. These investors need protection and this is what the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002 was created for. Our society and our economy would not be the same if these things did not exist.

References
NYSE Euronext. (2011). Nyse euronext who are we?. Retrieved from http://corporate.nyx.com/en/who-we-are
Stockexchangesecrets.com. (2011). The nasdaq in simple steps... Retrieved from http://www.stockexchangesecrets.com/nasdaq.html