When one thinks of the phrase “stock market”, the image that almost always pops into ones head is that of Wall Street. This is quite understandable, of course. The markets in Wall Street, NYC are arguably the largest on earth, and probably have the greatest amount of influence of any of the other stock markets. The largest stock exchange on Wall Street is, of course, the New York Stock Exchange. With daily trading rates estimated at over 153 billion daily in 2008, this single exchange dwarfs all others, and over time has cemented itself as the most influential stock market in the US, and consequently as one of the most influential in the entire world.

What is now known as the New York Stock Exchange came into being on May 17th, when a number of stockbrokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement (so named after the tree they signed it under). They NYSE started small, as these things often do – its first location was a single room at 40 Wall Street. After several other moves and various market upheavals (as well as the renaming from New York Brokerage and Exchange Board to its present title in 1863), the NYSE moved into its current headquarters at 11 Wall Street, in 1922. Since then, the NYSE has been a primary hub for both American and international stock exchange.

The New York Stock Exchange has also suffered through some of the worst economic disasters in recent history. The most notorious of these are the Black Thursday and Tuesday events on October 24th and 29th, respectively. The first was a result of a catastrophic loss (11) of value just after its opening. The second brought to a close the two most destructive days in US economic history, with a staggering 30 billion dollar having been lost