Final 1999 Trading Volume, IPOs Star At The NYSE

The New York Stock Exchange set records in 1999 for trading volume and initial public offerings, listing more than 94 percent of the year's qualified domestic IPOs. The Exchange this year reached record trading levels on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis. Average daily trading volume was a record 809.2 million shares1, a 20.1 percent increase over last year's 673.6 million share average. A total of 203.9 billion shares were traded, up 20.2 percent over the 1998 volume of 169.7 billion shares. Volume on 18 days this year crossed 1 billion shares, with a record 1.35 billion shares traded on Dec. 17. Seven of the top 10 record volume days also occurred in 1999. Eight of the 10 busiest weeks, as well as eight of the 10 busiest months in NYSE history have all occurred in 1999, with 5.5 billion shares traded during the week ended Dec. 17 and 19.7 billion shares traded in December, both records. Fourth-quarter 1999 was the busiest three months in history, with 56.9 billion shares traded. There were no network or systems interruptions reported during any of the record days and the Exchange this year increased its trading capacity to 4.5 billion from 2 billion. Average daily value of trading on the Exchange was a record $35.5 billion, up 22.4 percent over the 1998 level of $29.0 billion. The total value of shares traded was a record $8.9 trillion, an increase of 21.9 percent over 1998's $7.3 trillion. Initial public offerings, meanwhile, took the limelight in new listings, with the largest domestic, non-U.S., Silicon Valley, biotechnology, financial and bottling industry IPOs launched at the NYSE. The Nov. 10 $5.5 billion offering by United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) and Nov. 2 $19 billion offering by Italian power company ENEL SpA (NYSE: EN) were historic in size. Silicon Valley's largest IPO took place on Nov. 18, with the $2.16 billion offering by Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A), while Genentech Inc.'s (NYSE: DNA) July 17 $1.9 billion offering ranked as the largest biotechnology IPO. Wall Street's oldest and largest investment-banking firm, The Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS), led with the largest IPO for a financial services company with its $3.7 billion May 4 offering and the Pepsi Bottling Co.'s (NYSE: PBG) $2.3 billion March 31 offering ranked as the largest for the bottling industry. With 146 newly-listed companies, the Exchange has 3,025 listed companies with a record 280.9 billion shares available for trading and a total global market capitalization of $16.8 trillion, also a record. At year-end 1998, the NYSE had 3,114 companies trading 239 billion shares valued at $13.5 trillion. New listings, and previously listed companies, had to meet higher listing standards and procedures that were implemented by the Exchange in August. Non-U.S. companies accounted for 28 of the new listings. A record 394 non-U.S. companies from 49 countries are listed on the Exchange. A total of 39 domestic and four non-U.S. companies have transferred from Nasdaq and 16 domestic and two non-U.S. from the American Stock Exchange. The Exchange has listed 50 domestic and 10 non-U.S. IPOs. The NYSE Composite Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) both reached record highs of 663.12 on July 16 and 11,497.12 on Dec. 31, respectively. The DJIA rose to the five-figure level on March 29, closing at 10,006.88. The NYSE Composite Index opened the year at 595.81 and the DJIA at 9,181.42. The Exchange will be closed the following days in 2000: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Jan.17; Washington's Birthday, Feb. 21 (observed); Good Friday, April 21; Memorial Day, May 29; Independence Day, July 4; Labor Day, Sept. 4; Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 23; and Christmas Day, Dec 25.