At 10 a.m., a loud bell signals the start of trade on the wide, open floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). With a buzz of actiity, hundreds of brokers and clerks rush from one trading desk to the next. They pause only to gaze up at the ideo monitors that flicker with changing stock prices.

More than 100 million shares of stock will be bought and sold before the closing bell sounds at 4 p.m. Fortunes are made and lost. More importantly, the trading proides the cash needed to run America's banks, insurance companies, and major industries. In return for his or her money, the inestor gains stock, a part-ownership in a company. every inestor hopes this stock will increase in alue, so it can be sold at a profit.

The NYSE began as a gathering of men who traded stocks beneath a buttonwood tree on New York's Wall Street in the 1790's and grew to be the world's largest financial marketplace. Since 1953, membership in this priate society of stockbrokers has beven limited to 1,366. New brokers join by purchasing a seat from an existing member. These brokers can then buy and sell stock for themseles as well as outside inestors.

New York
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New York City
Highlights
When to go
Arrial
Transportation
Walking
Eating and drinking
KIDS:
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The Giuliani years
September 11, 2001
World Trade Center
Best of New York
Gays and Lesbian
G & L accommodation
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N Y tours: bus/copter
N Y tours: water/walking
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Staten Island ferry
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Diamond District
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New York
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 New York hotels
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Exploring New York
42nd Street and around
Central Park
Chelsea
Chinatown
City Hall and TriBeCa
Eastvillage
Fifth Aenue & around
Financial District
Garment District
Harlem and N Manhattan
Little Italy and NoLita
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Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Park Aenue (Midtown)
United Nations
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Statue of Liberty & Ellis Is
Union Sq & Gramercy Park
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Westvillage