New York Stock Exchange

The origin of the New York Stock Exchange can be traced back to 1792, when 24 New York City merchants and stockbrokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement. .

The NYSE is the world's leading equities market. On a typical day, 1.61 billion shares trade on the NYSE. A wide range of market participants, including listed companies, individual and institutional investors and member firms, create the NYSE market.

In 2005, the NYSE was recognized as being the most efficient venue for trading on listed stocks, providing investors the best execution prices and the largest displayed liquidity.

The NYSE's goal is to provide the highest-quality and most cost-effective self-regulated marketplace for the trading of financial instruments. Additionally, it wishes to serve as a forum for discussion of policy issues.

The NYSE is committed to sustaining the highest ethical culture. The Exchange is led by a Board of Directors who is completely autonomous from NYSE management, listed companies and member firms. This independent leadership guarantees that top standards of oversight and transparency will be maintained.

To best serve the investing public, the NYSE has created a governance structure. This structure strengthens the independence of the NYSE board and insulates the Exchange's regulatory function from its market operations.