MARKETS LOOKING AT LINKING UP; AMEX, NASDAQ EYE CHALLENGE TO NYSE.Byline: Laura M. Holson and Diana Henriques The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times The American Stock Exchange American Stock Exchange (AMEX) Stock exchange in the U.S. Originally known as “the Curb,” it began as an outdoor marketplace in New York City c. 1850. It moved indoors to its present location in the Wall Street area in 1921. and the National Association of Securities Dealers National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Nonprofit organization formed under the joint sponsorship of the investment bankers' conference and the SEC to comply with the Maloney Act, which provides for the regulation of the OTC market. are discussing a combination that would give them enough heft to seriously challenge the giant New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. , according to several people close to the talks. The image of the NASD NASD See: National Association of Securities Dealers NASD See National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). , which governs the Nasdaq stock market Nasdaq stock market The first electronic stock market listing over 5000 companies. The Nasdaq stock market comprises two separate markets, namely the Nasdaq National Market, which trades large, active securities and the Nasdaq Smallcap Market that trades emerging growth companies. , has been tarnished in recent years by allegations of price fixing, while the American Stock Exchange has become a distant third in U.S. stock trading. Details about the structure of a combination were sketchy Wednesday night, in part because they still were being worked out and exchange members had not been fully informed. People close to the talks said the NASD would create a holding company under which the Amex and the Nasdaq would continue to operate separately as subsidiaries. Nasdaq is an electronic exchange, with broker-dealers posting on computers the prices at which they are willing to trade. The New York Stock Exchange and the Amex are auction markets, where prices are arrived at through ``open outcry'' trading at a certain spot on a central trading floor. Under the proposal, companies would have the choice of where their stocks would be listed. Nasdaq, which has superior technology and larger trading volume, is home to some of the nation's fastest-growing high-technology companies and has attracted a following among speculative investors who have profited handsomely from the explosive gains of such stocks in recent years. But it has had trouble attracting international companies, which are more familiar with the open-outcry system used by the Amex. Amex, which has struggled to attract new listings and to increase its trading volume, would benefit from Nasdaq's technological edge. |
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