The year saw the launch of Network NYSE, a portfolio of order-execution services and market-information products that provide customers with new choices in accessing the NYSE's unparalleled liquidity and information resources. The umbrella of products and services included in the platform are NYSE Direct+, NYSE MarkeTrac, e-Broker and Institutional XPress. A pilot program for NYSE Direct+, a high-speed electronic connection that allows for no-fee, automatic execution of limit orders for up to 1,099 shares for immediate executions at the published NYSE quote, was launched Dec. 21 with three stocks. An additional 19 additional stocks joined the pilot on Dec. 28, with full implementation of NYSE Direct+ scheduled for February 2001. The Network NYSE introduction also served as a catalyst for a new corporate identity for the Exchange, including a new logo that represents the market as an open portal to myriad opportunities.
The NYSE led the industry to convert stock prices from fractions to decimals in 2000. The Exchange launched a pilot program in August with seven stocks and phased in an additional 151 stocks in September and December. The remaining NYSE stocks will convert to decimal-pricing on Jan. 29, 2001, making the Exchange the first U.S. market to become fully decimalized.
On Nov. 20, 2000 the NYSE opened a new trading facility at 30 Broad St. that adds 8,000 square feet of high-tech and user-friendly trading space and now accounts for about 15 percent of the Exchange's total share volume.
This year, the Exchange doubled its trading capacity to 2,000 messages per second (mps), up from 1,000 mps the previous year. In June, the Exchange became the first marketplace to establish a real-time link from its Online Comparison System to the National Securities Clearing Corp.'s clearance and settlement systems. The NYSE adopted the industry standard Financial Information Exchange (FIX) protocol for orders and reports via the NYSE Common Access Point (NYSE CAP) network, marking the first large-scale deployment of FIX by an exchange. Other tech advances in 2000 included the automation of cap orders on all specialist display books on Sept. 6, which reduced paper on the trading floor by 20 percent.
Non-U.S. companies accounted for approximately half of all new listings in 2000. The Exchange added 60 non-U.S. companies with a combined global market capitalization of $766.3 billion. A record 434 non-U.S. companies from 51 countries are now listed on the NYSE. The combined global market capitalization of these companies alone - $5.4 trillion - would rank as the second-largest stock market in the world. The dollar value of trading in non-U.S. stocks totaled more than $1.1 trillion, up approximately 66 percent from the 1999 level of $687 billion.
UBS AG in May became the first Swiss company to issue a global share on the NYSE. The year also brought the first Turkish and Austrian listings, as well as a multitude of world-class listings including Novartis AG, Allianz AG, Vivendi, Canon, Inc., Prudential plc, BASF AG, VSNL, China Unicom, and Telefónica Móviles S.A., as well as the global technology leaders Infineon Technologies AG, Wipro Limited, United Microelectronics Corporation and Pacific Century CyberWorks Limited.
Partnering with nine international exchanges, the NYSE began negotiations to develop the Global Equity Market (GEM), a technology-based network of auction markets that will provide investors with enhanced access to a global pool of liquidity and price discovery. Collectively the GEM members represent 60% of the world's market capitalization.
The iShares S&P Global 100 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) began trading on the NYSE on Dec. 8, 2000. This ETF is based on the S&P Global 100 Index jointly developed by Standard & Poor's and the NYSE. The NYSE's first ETF, it has an aggregate market capitalization of $8.2 trillion and is comprised of 61 non-U.S. companies and 39 U.S. companies, 76 of which are listed on the NYSE.
In total, the NYSE added 122 companies to its list in 2000, resulting in a total of 2,862 listed companies with a record 317 billion shares available for trading and a total global market capitalization of $17.9 trillion, also a record. At year-end 1999, the NYSE had 3,025 companies trading 280.9 billion shares valued at $16.8 trillion. New listings and previously listed companies had to meet higher listing standards and procedures that were implemented by the Exchange in 1999.
Several leading technology and telecommunications companies were among the 62 domestic companies to list on the NYSE this year including Qwest Communications International, Inc., VISX, Inc., Global Crossing Ltd., NTL Inc. and the AT&T Wireless Group, the largest domestic IPO in U.S. history.
The Exchange listed 24 domestic IPOs in 2000 including MetLife Inc., John Hancock Financial Services Inc., TyCom Ltd. and Southern Energy Inc.
The Exchange this year reached record trading levels on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis, surpassing records set in 1999. Average daily trading volume was a record 1.04 billion shares (1), up from last year's record 809.2 million shares. A total of 262.5 billion shares traded, marking a 29 percent increase over the 1999 volume of 203.9 billion shares.
Volume on 148 days this year surpassed 1 billion shares, with a record 1.56 billion shares traded on Dec. 15. All of the top-10 volume days have also occurred in 2000. The 10 busiest weeks and 10 busiest months in NYSE history have all occurred in 2000, with 6.5 billion shares traded during the week ended December 22 and 26.2 billion shares traded in March, both records. Fourth-quarter 2000 was the busiest three months in history, with 71.8 billion shares traded.
Average daily value of trading on the Exchange was a record $43.9 billion, up 24 percent over the 1999 level of $35.5 billion. The total value of shares traded was a record $11.1 trillion, an increase of 25 percent over 1999's $8.9 trillion.
The NYSE Composite Index reached a record high of 677.58 on Sept.1. It closed this year at 656.87, an increase of 1%, following a close of 650.30 in 1999.
The Exchange will be closed the following days in 2001: New Year's Day, Jan. 1; Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Jan.15; Washington's Birthday, Feb. 19; Good Friday, April 13; Memorial Day, May 28; Independence Day, July 4; Labor Day, Sept. 3; Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22; and Christmas Day, Dec 25.
(1) For comparison purposes, it should be noted that trading volume is counted differently by different markets. On the NYSE, most of the volume reflects customer-to-customer transactions. An NYSE transaction in which one customer sell 100 shares to another counts as 100 shares of volume. In contrast, in dealer markets, a dealer generally buys shares from one customer and sells them to another; in fact, more than one dealer may participate between ultimate buyer and seller. A dealer-market transaction in which one customer sells 100 shares to a dealer who then sells them to another customer counts as 200 shares; if another dealer participated between the customers, 300 shares. Thus, volume reported by the NYSE is generally less than that of a dealer market for same activity.
