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A 12-foot-high wood stockade is erected across lower Manhattan from river to river to protect Dutch settlers from attacks by the British and Indians.
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Surveyors lay out Wall Street along the line of the stockade.
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The federal government refinances all federal and state Revolutionary War debt, issuing $80 million in bonds. These become the first major issues of publicly traded securities, marking the birth of the U.S. investment markets.
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A group of 24 merchants and brokers gathered on Wall Stree under a buttonwood tree to sign an agreement to trade secutities on a commission basis.
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The opening of the Erie Canal makes New York City the seaboard gateway for the Great Lakes region. New York State bonds, issued to finance the canal, are traded actively on the Exchange.
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The Great Fire destroys over 700 buildings in lower Manhattan. The NYS&EB moves to temporary headquarters.
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The Ohio Life Insurance & Trust Company collapses. Prices drop eight to ten percent in the course of a single trading session, the culmination of a 45% decline in market value since the beginning of the year.
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At the outbreak of the Civil War, the NYS&EB suspends trading in securities of seceding states.
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The Exchange closes for more than a week following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
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On September 24, gold speculation resulted in "Black Friday."
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Wall Street Becomes World Financial Leader
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President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffers a heart attack on September 24, creating a large wave of selling at the NYSE. Both the president and the market recover quickly.
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The assassination of President Kennedy on November 22 forces an emergency early closing of the Exchange to avoid panic selling.
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Muriel Siebert becomes the first woman member of the Exchange.
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Joseph L. Searles III becomes the first African-American member of the Exchange.
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The NYSE introduces the first equity product that tracks the S&P Global 100 Index -- the iShares S&P Global 100 Exchange Traded Fund (NYSE-listed IOO).
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The NYSE closes for four days -- its longest closure since 1933 -- and reopens on Sept. 17, setting a record volume of 2.37 billion
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On March 7, the NYSE Group, Inc., a for-profit, publicly-owned company, is formed out of the merger of the New York Stock Exchange and Archipelago Holdings, Inc. The merger is the largest-ever among securities exchanges up to this time.
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Visa Inc., Largest IPO in U.S. History, Lists on the NYSE
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Visa Inc., the world’s largest retail electronic payment network, begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “V” after its historic initial public offering in which it raised $17.86 billion. Visa’s IPO is the largest domestic initial public offering in U.S. history and the third largest initial public offering worldwide.