- Exchange-traded fund assets and average daily volume nearly doubled for the sixth consecutive year.
- The Amex’s options business traded a record volume of more than 200 million contracts.
- The Amex Composite Index beat that of every other domestic exchange and the Amex added 112 new operating company listings.
EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS (ETFs)
The Amex reached $70.3 billion in invested assets in ETFs, nearly double the $35.9 billion at the end of 1999. Consolidated average daily volume in ETFs increased to 45.8 million shares per day during 2000, an increase of 136 percent from the 19.4 million shares traded per day during 1999. The number of ETF products traded grew to 92 by year-end from 32 just a year earlier.
New ETF products introduced in 2000 included 40 new Barclays Global Investors’ iShares, bringing the total number of iShares traded on the Amex to 56. In addition, State Street Global Advisors launched a line of ETF products called streetTRACKS, as well as two ETF products that track the Fortune 500 and the Fortune e50.
In May, the Vanguard Group registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to list a new class of ETFs, to be called Vipers, on the Amex.
"Our ETF business is literally recreating the market for innovative investment products," Mr. Sodano said. "Having solidified our domestic leadership position during the last year, we are now working on the next generation of ETFs and expanding investor access to Amex-listed ETFs globally."
OPTIONS
The Amex traded a record 207.7 million options contracts in 2000, breaking the 200 million mark for the first time. Average daily volume increased 60 percent to 824,000 contracts. The Amex also set a record in October, trading more than 20 million contracts in a single month.
The Amex increased its overall options market share by 305 basis points over 1999—the largest percentage increase of any domestic options exchange.
The Amex announced plans to implement a state-of-the-art, fully electronic floor-based trading platform for options, positioning the Amex to respond quickly to market developments. To preserve our competitive edge, the Amex also initiated a program of payment for options order flow in July 2000.
"Our options business continues to break records in a highly competitive landscape," Mr. Sodano said. "We expect to continue the strong growth trend in options we have established in the last year."
EQUITIES
During 2000, the Amex continued pursuing our stated strategy of focusing our equities business on small- and mid-cap companies, and providing value-added services to enhance listed-company visibility within the investment community.
New listings of operating companies were up 24 percent for the year, as the Amex listed 112 new companies, versus 90 in 1999. The dollar value of equity shares traded on the Amex nearly doubled to $945.3 billion in 2000 from $477.8 billion in 1999.
"By identifying and exploiting a niche in the equity marketplace—small- and mid-cap companies—we are rejuvenating our equities business," said Mr. Sodano. "We will aggressively pursue new listings—both through IPOs and otherwise—of companies that need the unique blend of visibility, attention and support that the auction market at the Amex can provide."
SINGAPORE EXCHANGE ALLIANCE
In other highlights, the Amex and the Singapore Exchange announced plans in June to establish a joint venture to list and trade Amex-listed ETFs in Singapore. The venture will provide both retail and institutional investors the opportunity to trade ETFs across the North American and Asian time zones. Trading in Singapore is expected to commence in the first half of 2001.
"The Singapore agreement was the first step," Mr. Sodano said. "We intend to extend our domestic ETF leadership position globally by providing fully fungible products to investors on a 24-hour basis."
AMEX COMPOSITE INDEX
The Amex Composite Index outpaced every other domestic exchange and virtually every other broad-based index during 2000. For the year, the Amex was up 2.4 percent; Nasdaq was down 39.3 percent; DJIA was down 6.2 percent; S&P 500 was down 10.1 percent, and NYSE was up 1.0 percent.
NEW PRESIDENT
In May, the Amex appointed Peter Quick president. Mr. Quick, 44, formerly president and chief executive officer of Quick & Reilly, Inc., a leading national discount retail brokerage firm, is a proven industry leader who adds significant depth to the Amex management team.
DECIMALIZATION
In August, the Amex successfully launched an industry initiative to convert securities to decimal pricing. At the end of 2000, 55 equity products and 46 options classes were successfully trading in decimals. The Amex is on track to convert its remaining equity products and options classes on Amex and NYSE listed companies to decimals by the end of January 2001.
SEAT PRICE AND FLOOR EXPANSION
The price of a seat on the Amex hit an all-time record—$725,000—in June, which is an increase of $325,000, or 81 percent, over the seat price at the end of 1999.
As a result of increasing business, the Amex announced during the year that it would build a new trading floor—now under construction—expanding its existing trading floor by 7,000 square feet, which will add 50 booths and 78 specialist workstations. The expansion follows on the heels of an expansion completed earlier in 2000 of the Amex’s mezzanine level, which added 37 booths and 19 specialist workstations to the floor.
The American Stock Exchange®, a subsidiary of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD®), is the only primary exchange that offers trading across a full range of equities, Index SharesSM, including structured products and HOLDRSSM, and options. In addition to its role as a national equities market, the Amex is the leader in Index Share listings (DIAMONDS®,FORTUNE 500®Index Tracking Stock, FORTUNE e-50™ Index Tracking Stock, iSharesSM , MidCap SPDRs™, Nasdaq-100 Index Tracking StockSM, Select Sector SPDRs®, and SPDRs® and streetTRACKSSM) and is the second-largest options exchange in the U.S., trading options on broad-based and sector indexes as well as domestic and foreign stocks. For more information, visit www.amex.com.
