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Please also see the separate page on U.S. and International Securities Market Supervision and Regulation
Please also see the separate page on U.S. and International Equities Market Indices
The purchase of a share of equity is to purchase a pro rata share of the total equity capital invested in a company. A company can go public for the first time in an IPO (initial Public Offering), can already be listed on an exchange (which is the secondary market for equity securities once the company has gone public), and may bring additional issued shares or new classes of shares to the market.
In the United States, when a company is first created by incorporation there is usually a legal requirement that it have a limited number of shares as per the registration requirements of the Secretary of State in the respective state that the company is located in. This is true even if the corporation is an Subchapter S-Corp. for tax purposes.
When a small corporation may seek additional funds from a Venture Capitalist (individual or fund) additional shares may be created by resolution of the Board of Directors of the corporation and a Stock Purchase Agreement / Term Sheet is issued outlining the sale of the new shares.
When large companies decide to go public or issue additional equity securities they retain one of the "Bulge Bracket" investment companies, which are a group of half dozen firms that dominate the U.S. securities underwriting and merger advisory business. The Major bracket are the second tier group of investment / brokerage firms. Section 20 of the Glass Steagal Act does allow separately capitalized bank subsidiaries to generate 10% of their revenues from essentially underwriting securities issues and trading corporate bonds and equities. There must be in-place "firewalls" to separate the operations of the two entities.
Equity Carve-out: the sale of some or all of the equity in subsidiaries through initial public offerings (as opposed to a "spin-off") in order for the company to also raise capital. The parent of a carve-out often sells less than 20% of a subsidiary's equity so it can still qualify for a tax-free spin-off at a later date.
There are several different types of equity shares, however the 3 most well known are the Common Share, Preferred
Share and the Convertible.
Shares of publicly traded foreign companies that are traded on an exchange in the United States (NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ) are listed and traded in the form of an ADR (American Depository Receipt). An ADR is a tradeable security which actually represents an underlying equity issue. The equities are purchased in the domestic market of the company's domicile and then placed under the control of a custodian. The investor is issued a "receipt" for the actual shares held on deposit by the custodian. It is the "receipt" that is the actual traded security and its price is always quoted in USD terms and reflects a value of the spot USD / foreign currency exchange rate of the equity's price in its domestic market.
Equity shares may be purchased in a Round Lot (exactly 100 shares) or in odd lots (less than or more than a Round Lot or a multiple of round lots). The equity share(s) must also be classifed as of Good Delivery status or condition meaning that ownership can be transferred from the present owner to the purchaser without any subsequent claim on the shares, that the shares are the legally issued equity of the particular company, and that there are no conditions that detract from the full value of the shares on the date of purchase. These days, most share sales are paperless transactions in which no certificate is actually transferred. Rather, the sale is recorded in a book-entry format by either a bank or trust company custodian authorized to function as a transfer agent. In the United States, equity share sales and purchase settlement are handled centrally by the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC; see below). All transaction data from the exchanges and brokers is transmitted to the NSCC who reconciles all of the accounts on a daily basis after the close of business.
An investor may purchase the equity shares of a company by either enrolling in a share purchase program sponsored by the company (DRIP / Dividend Reinvestment Program), or by using a Broker to arrange for the purchase of the shares. A Broker will attempt to obtain the best price available for the purchase and will also charge a commission for the service. Some brokerages only provide services to other financial institutions (wholesale; buy-side, sell-side) and some brokerages provide services to the general public (retail), or a combination of both. However, the Broker will assume no risk of purchasing the shares on his / her on behalf (holds no inventory). The Broker (a brokerage or the non-bank broker affiliate of a bank) must either be a member, or be employed by a firm that is a member of a particular exchange on which the equity shares are traded (not all brokerages are members and those that are not must route the market order to another brokerage that is a member of a respective exchange). A Dealer may also arrange for a purchase of equity shares, however a Dealer may also already be holding an inventory of the equity shares of a particular company (assumes risk) in order to make a market in those particular equity shares. A company may function as a Broker - Dealer, however the Broker may deal with the public while a Dealer primarily interacts with other professional dealers. The SEC defines the difference between a Broker and a Dealer as a Broker executes transactions on a securities exchange for the account of others (individuals or institutions) while a Dealer acts as principal, buying and selling securities for his/her own account (through a broker or otherwise) (Section 3(a)(5) of the Exchange Act). Brokerages are members of FINRA/SIPC
An investor can specify either a market order or a limit order with a broker. In a market order, the broker will purchase the stock(s) at the best price available at the time the order was received. In a limit order, the investor specifies a price at which they wish to purchase (maximum price) or sell (minimum price). Limit order fulfillment is carried out under the SEC's Order Handling Rules of 1996.
Retail brokerage services (on-line broker, self-directed trading broker) are classifed as Full-service Brokerage, Discount Brokerage and Deep-discount Broker. The division between these companies is based on the level of service provided to the client. Various brokerages follow various strategies: some dealing only with high net worth clients and some just executing a high volume of trades at low fees. The retail, on-line self-directing brokerages include Charles Schwab, E*Trade, Fidelity, Scottrade, ShareBuilder, SogoTrade, TD Ameritrade, Thinkorswim. These type of brokers allow individuals to download a software application to their computer, which then allows the individual to get onto the company's secure website / ECN (electronic communication network) and trade equities directly within their own account through either a NASDAQ Level I or NASDAQ Level II quote screen.
Broker / Dealer Directory
In 1990 the Securities and Exchange Commisssion (SEC) passed Rule 144A, which allowed non-U.S. companies issue equity (or debt) in the domestic U.S. market without registering the specific issue. The securities could only be sold to qualified institutional buyers (and could only be traded in a secondary market among other qualified institutional buyers / QIBS, or institutional investors with at least $100 million invested in securities). After 2 years, these unregulated issued securities could be sold in public markets. The secondary market trading is handled by NASD PORTAL (Private Offerings, Resales and Trading through Automated Linkages) and equity issues include any common, capital, ordinary, preferred stock, or warrant. The 144A market competes closely for capital with private placements.
Please see the Directory of U.S. & International Equity Exchanges below.
Exchanges are secondary markets for the sale and purchase of equity securities that have already been issued by a company. Combined, the various participants (North American, Latin American, European and Asian exchanges, ATS’s, ECN’s and Dark Pools) provide pools of liquidity for the purchase and sale of equities. Institutions and individuals that trade on the various participant exchanges are Liquidity Providers. However, again, these are shares that have already been issued once by any specific company. The miliions of share volume and billions of dollars traded each day are between investors in a secondary market.
In the United States, the New York Stock Exchange / NYSE (which is 211 years old) is the largest market for equities of companies that meet the minimum financial and outstanding share requirements of the exchange (in excess of 2,700 companies are listed). The NYSE merged with Euronext, which then also merged with the American Stock Excahnge (Amex; NYSE Euronext's equities markets, which consists of the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext, NYSE Arca, and NYSE Amex, represents approximately 40% of the world's cash equities trading volume). In the United States NYSE Euronext is an SRO (Self-Regulating Organization) (as the SEC does not have sufficient resources to monitor all daily trade volume) but somewhat different as it is still an auction-based system that relies upon specialists that function as intermediaries between buyers and sellers. Specialists are required to hold inventories of equity shares of particular companies sufficient enough to make a market in those shares. The Specialist is required to have shares for sale in a particular company when there are no other sellers. Conversely, the Specialist must buy the shares of the particular company they cover when those shares are offered for sale but there are no other buyers in the market.
The credit analysis concern with the role of the Speicialists is that their function provides them with a monopoly-like position. The NYSE utilizes the DOT (Designated Order Turnaround) electronic system for the delivery of client orders to the NYSE floor. The Specialist can see all of the incoming buy and sell orders through the DOT and can control the order flow and trade ahead of the order flow. In addition, the SEC "Trade-through" regulation requires that even other electronic marketplaces must still consider the slower Speicalist quote if it is a better execution price. This slows down the other participants and in some instances the Specialist quote is not always available for execution.
In November 2004, the SEC proposed Regulation NMS that requires all exchanges to display all bid and offer prices for a specific equity issue, not just the highest (offer) and lowest (bid) prices. This proposal is also refered to as the "Best Price" guarantee. This position is in direct contrast to floor brokers and specialists that utilize the NYSE and the NASDAQ presently being allowed to have private / undisclosed orders that may actually be a better price than a price disclosed on another exchange. Regulation NMS (similar to MiFID in the European Union) has resulted in equity trades being completed on the exchange that has offered the best execution price.
The other participants at the NYSE are the floor traders / floor brokers who are members of the exchange and either trade for their own account or trade on the behalf of financial institutions. The NYSE utilizes a combination of open outcry interaction, which is a verbal bid between traders, and electronic trading execution (introduced in 2004). At the NYSE, open outcry is usually conducted at the location of the specialist for a specific stock. All the other equity exchanges are entirely electronic / computer network-based systems, which utilize market makers who compete to offer the best price for the specific stock by displaying bid / ask quotes (see OTC next).
In the United States, the Over-the-Counter (OTC) exchange utilizes a negotiated price transaction directly between professional Brokers and Dealers (no specialists). There is no auction system, rather Bid (offer to purchase at a certain price) and Ask (offer to sell at a certain price) prices are displayed through closed computer network and transactions are completed over the same network or over the telephone. Companies whose shares are traded exclusively over-the-counter are known as unlisted companies (not listed with a major exchange). The NASD also functions as the regulator of the OTC narket.
Electronic Communications Network (ECN) are the secure computer network infrastructure over which equity trading is conducted by participants who are not physically located at the exchange (or the exchange has no floor and is electronic only). ECNs developed to increase the speed and transparency of a financial transaction and to avoid the actual physical movement of cash and securities documents and certificates. The ECN structure also reduces the cost to trade because it eleiminates the need for real estate to house an exchange and matches buy and sell orders automatically without the intervention of a human broker or marketmaker. The key to this situation is that the system has low-latency: only mili-seconds difference between the actual quote on the exchange and the display on the participant's screen, and only mili-seconds between "clicking" a market order and acutal order execution.
One of the earliest ECN systems (and largest) that links brokers and dealers in the OTC market is the NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) computer network system. Not all OTC securities are traded through NASDAQ. In January 2006, NASDAQ received unanimous SEC approval to operate as a national securities exchange and became a direct competitor of the NYSE after having traded NYSE-listed securities, and began to approach companies listed on the NYSE to either list on NASDAQ or also have a dual-listing on NASDAQ. However, this means that companies have to operate under two different listing rules and regulations and incur 2 separate exchange listing fees. NASDAQ lists approximately 3,200 companies in the United States and globally, the NASDAQ OMX Group lists 3,700 companies. In 2005, NASDAQ acquired INet ECN and also Instinet; in 2006 NASDAQ introduced the NASDAQ Crossing Network, a fully-anonymous trade execution facility designed to facilitate the execution of large trades; in May 2006, NASDAQ acquired a 15% stake in shares of the London Stock Exchange, which it then sold in August 2007; in October 2007, NASDAQ acquired the Boston Stock Exchange; after a series of transactions with Borse Dubai and OMX in September 2007, the strategic affiliation became NASDAQ OMX Group in December 2007; in December 2008, NASDAQ acquired the Philadelphia Exchange (PHX).
Some electronic exchanges are Alternative Trading System / ATS (as per SEC Rule 300 a) ECNs or Multilateral Trading Facility / MTF, which are trading platforms not accessed by retail shareholders but are utilized by institutional investors, include Alpha ATS (Canada), Omega ATS (Canada) Chi-X Europe (London), BATS Exchange (USA; Better Alternative Trading system), BATS Europe, Direct Edge, Xetra International (Deutsche Börse), Equiduct Trading (Börse Berlin), Burgundy (Sweden), Quote MTF (Hungary). These exchanges make markets in the most liquid of stocks listed on the large exchanges, execute orders faster, and have a lower overhead so they can compete on price. As indicated above, Regulation NMS (similar to MiFID in the European Union) has resulted in equity trades being completed on the exchange that has offered the best execution price thus many of the newer electronic exchanges that can operate less expensively than the older, established exchanges have been able to take market share away from them, and also resulted in some consolidation among the exchanges.
There are also a group of alternative electronic exchanges / Alternative Trading Systems known as Dark Pools (or dark liquidity pools; and also sometimes referred to as a crossing network). These electronic trading networks are private closed networks utilized by institutional investors, broker-dealers, hedge funds and portfolio managers. The purpose of these exchanges is to provide anonymity, reduced information leakage and reduced market impact to traders moving a large volume of equity shares globally. A client can direct an order to a particular venue or the ATS can send out an order with the Intermarket Sweep (ISO) identifier. Some of the dark pools include:
Some of the established, public quote exchanges criticize dark pools as draining volume from the exchanges.
SEC Video - Dark Pool Proposal www.sec.gov/news/speech/2009/video102109mls.wmv (MS Windows Media Video)
All electronic communication networks / electronic trading systems are dependent upon third-party vendors for network, access / connectivity, trading platform access, market data distribution. The basic computer server operating systems are Sun Solaris, Windows NT/2000 and Redhat Linux. Financial Information Exchange (FIX) is a message-based protocol implemented over TCP/IP (Internet Protocaol). Market trade execution must have very low latency. Web browser-based network connections are usually only compatible with the PC platform / Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP family OS; MS Internet Explorer 6 / MS Internet Explorer 7; SSL 128-bit encryption enabled; JavaScript execution enabled in the browser settings.
The most basic trading platform provides real-time price quotes and the ability to execute a market order.
Chart types include Bar, Candlestick, Kagi, Line, Point & Figure, Point Break, Renko.
There are separate application for technical analysis.
Clearing is the transfer and confirmation of information between the payer (sending financial institution) and payee (receiving financial institution).
In the United States, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) provides clearing, settlement and information services for equities (in addition to providing the same service through its several subsidiaries for corporate and municipal bonds, government and mortgage-backed securities, money market instruments and over-the-counter derivatives). DTCC's subsidiary, National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC), provides clearing, settlement, risk management, central counterparty services and a guarantee of completion for certain transactions for virtually all broker-to-broker trades involving equities, ADRs, ETFs, and unit investment trusts. NSCC is regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Settlement is the actual transfer of funds between the payer’s financial institution and the payee’s financial institution. Settlement discharges the obligation of the payer financial institution to the payee financial institution with respect to the payment order.
In the United States, the cash purchase transaction for equity shares must be settled within three (3) business days, which is also referred to as T + 3.
Short selling is the practice of borrowing shares of a stock of a particular company from an institution (broker-dealer or an institutional investor), paying a fee to the institution to "borrow" the equity shares for a specific period of time, and then selling the stock to another party in the belief that the value of the stock will decline prior to the expiration date when the shares must be returned. If the value of the stock does decline then the short seller can repurchase the number of shares required to be returned to the lending institution (close out the position) at a lower price then they were sold when they were first borrowed. Thus, the short seller earns the difference between the selling of the shares at a higher price and then replacing the borrowed shares at a lower price, all without ever having really owned the equity shares of the respective company. It is a trading strategy that is viable if the short seller (correctly) estimates that economic conditions may turn against a company and its stock price appears to be inflated compared to the potential earnings performance of the company.
If market conditions or the price of the specific equity share increase then the short seller has to close out the position by purchasing shares at a higher price and the short seller can incur a loss.
As per the SEC, "short selling (theoretically) provides the market with two important benefits: market liquidity and pricing efficiency. Substantial market liquidity is provided through short selling by market professionals, such as market makers, block positioners, and specialists, who facilitate the operation of the markets by offsetting temporary imbalances in the supply and demand for securities. To the extent that short sales are effected in the market by securities professionals, such short sale activities, in effect, add to the trading supply of stock available to purchasers and reduce the risk that the price paid by investors is artificially high because of a temporary contraction of supply."
However, collaborative (or concentrated) short selling (often referred to in the past as a "Bear Raid") can also drive down the value of an equity share in contrast to the actual fundamental financial health of the company who's shares are being sold short. This collaborative short-selling can be substantial enough to be a self-fulfilling financial condition: the volume of short selling is so great that the short sellers create the financial situation from which they profit. This is why the concept of short selling is so controversial.
Section 10(a) of the Exchange Act gives the SEC plenary authority to regulate short sales of securities registered on a national securities exchange.
In October, 2003, the SEC proposed a new rule that would prohibit Naked Short Selling. This is the practice of selling the equity shares of a company without having borrowed the shares from another institution.
Prior to 2007, the SEC also maintained the Uptick Rule (also known as the tick test) in order to restrict short selling in a declining market. Rule 10a-1(a)(1) provides that, subject to certain exceptions, a listed security may be sold short: (i) at a price above the price at which the immediately preceding sale was effected (plus tick), or (ii) at the last sale price if it is higher than the last different price (zero-plus tick). Conversely, short sales are not permitted on minus ticks or zero-minus ticks, subject to narrow exceptions. The operation of these provisions is commonly described as the "tick test." The reference price for the tick test is either the last transaction price reported pursuant to an effective transaction reporting plan or on a particular exchange. Both the New York Stock Exchange, Inc. (NYSE) and the American Stock Exchange LLC (Amex) have elected to use the prices of trades on their own floors for the tick test. However, on July 6, 2007, the SEC amended the regulations by removing Rule 10a-1 / the short sale price test under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. www.sec.gov/rules/final/2007/34-55970.pdf
On October 17, 2008, the SEC adopted Rule 10b-21 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which makes it a civil and criminal offense for any person to submit an order to sell an equity security and deceive the person’s executing broker-dealer or counterparty about the person’s intention or ability to deliver the shares in time for settlement, and then fail to deliver such shares by settlement.
The strategy behind high frequency trading is to utilize high powered computers and advanced algorithms to trade on electronic exchanges and very quickly purchase and sell equity shares (or any instrument that trades electronically) to earn a small spread on the transaction. If the small profitable spread can be earned consistenetly and constantly in the course of a day (literally hundreds of trades in the course of a day), and then the positions are closed out by the end of the trading day so that no shares are held over night, then the trading operation can earn a consistent profit. However, critics of this concept indicate that it is not possible to send thousands of orders per second or in just a few seconds as the exchange will disconnect the trader and/or the system would crash if several traders were attempting to do so simultaneously.
In 2009, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) commenced an investigation into high frequency trading due to the trades accounting for such a large percentage of daily trade volume.
However, the real problem related to traders that utilize high powered computers and advanced algorithms to trade on electronic exchanges is related to flash orders. When an investor wants to buy shares in a company he or she may contact a broker to place an order. The broker will then route that buy order to an equity exchange. The equity exchange, in turn, determines whether it has any market participants who have publicly displayed an interest in selling at the requested price. Such a public display would appear in the widely available pricing information for the stock that is known as the consolidated quotation data stream. If the exchange does have an interested seller, the order is executed and a transaction has occurred.
However, if the equity exchange does not have a market participant on its exchange willing to sell at the best quoted price, then the exchange cannot simply execute the order at an inferior price. To execute the order for the buyer, the exchange is obligated to search other exchanges or markets. This is required under a rule known as Regulation NMS. An order to buy is "flashed" by the exchange that received the order when the exchange has determined it has no willing seller at the best quoted price. Rather than seeking out a seller in a competing exchange or market, the exchange "flashes" the order to certain of its participants. By doing this, the exchange is able to seek out willing sellers on its market who may have decided not to publicly display their sell price.
Thus, traders with high powered computers and advanced algorithms can, even within a second, utilize the flash order information to quickly locate an advantageous sell price not readily available to the exchange participants, execute both trades and profit from the difference. Currently, flash orders are permitted as result of an exception to Rule 602 of Regulation NMS that excepts these orders from requirements that apply generally to other orders. The concern is that the flashing of order information outside of the consolidated quotation data stream could lead to a two-tiered market in which the public does not have fair access to information about the best available prices for a security that is available to only some market participants. Flash orders also may detract from the incentives for market participants to display their trading interest publicly.
Price-earnings Ratio: Market Price per share divided by Earnings per share. U.S. corporation shares normally sell on a multiple of 12x to 14x.
Dividend Payout Ratio: Common stock dividend divided by net income. It is a measure of the percentage of income paid out as dividends.
Market/Book Ratio: Equal to the return on equity multiplied by the price/earnings ratio. It is the relationship between the value the stock market has placed on the company relative to the money invested by stockholders (stockholders' equity).
Adjust for stock splits:
As indicated above, preferred equity shares have characteristics of both equity and debt instruments which is why they tend to be referred to as preferred securities. They are issued by all types of corporations and financial institutions and many are rated by Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service.
Trust Preferreds are preferred shares backed by bonds of the company. The shares are exchange listed and traded. Trust Preferreds are either created by the company itself or by a brokerage that has purchased and assembled an inventory of the bonds for this specific purpose. Examples include CBTCs (Corporate Backed Trust Certificates), PPlus (Preferred Plus), Corts, Cabcos.
Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) are a portfolio (basket) of stocks that track the performance of a well-known, specific benchmark stock index, specific industry sector, corporate bond index (fixed income ETF), U.S. Treasury index or international stock indices. The entire portfolio of stocks is traded in a single security listed on an exchange. The most well known exchange traded fund is SPDR (Standard & Poor's Depository Receipt), which represents an interest in the entire group of stocks in the S&P 500 index in the form as an individual common stock (SPY). These stocks can be traded intraday (all day long) as they are priced throuhout the trading day anf their prices fluctuate throughout the day. The best known managers of ETFs are Barclays Global Investors, State Street Global Advisors and Vanguard. ETF shares can be purchased through any brokerage, which means that there is an accompanying brokerage fee for purchases and sales of ETF shares. However, they also have comparatively low management fees once purchased.
The structure of an ETF is sometimes referred to as a modified unit investment trust. First, there is a large portfolio of shares held by the fund. Secondly, there is secondary trading of the exchange listed shares of the fund that equal a pro rata interest in the underlying shares of the fund. Equity ETFs are also very tax efficient such that they only realize capital gains once a year when the compostion of the index the share tracks changes and the index has to be reconstituted by selling shares in a company that is no longer part of the index. However, a bond ETF is subject to interest rate movement and if market interest rates decline and bonds in the ETF portfolio are called, then the bond ETF will generate capital gains. In addition, as the structure of ETFs are similar to unit investment trusts, ETFs do not automatically reinvest dividends as would a mutual fund. Rather, all dividends are paid quarterly directly to the investor.
Another well-known ETF are iShares MSCI (formerly World Equity Benchmark Shares / WEBS), which are traded on the American Stock Exchange and track the performance of several international MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) indices and the iShares S&P 500 Index are sponsored by Barclays Global Capital. Other iShare ETFs include the iShares Lehman 20-plus Year Treasury Bond Fund (TLT), iShares Brazil Index Fund.
The ETF known as Diamonds (DIA) tracks the Dow Jones Industrial Average (30 stocks).
Another well-known ETF which is traded on NASDAQ is the QQQ share, which tracks the NASDAQ-100 index (top 100 non-financial companies based on market capitalization).
BLDRS (Baskets of Listed Depositary Receipts) are listed and traded on the NASDAQ and they track the The Bank of New York ADR Index, wich is a composite of U.S. exchange-traded depositary receipts.
Vanguard Total Market VIPERs (Vanguard Index Participation Equity Receipt) is an ETF that covers almost the entire equity market.
ETFs are used by short sellers in order to short an entire industry segment or entire market, and utilizing an ETF in this manner is much cheaper and more predictable than attempting to short the stock of a single company.
HOLDRS are a portfolio of industry sector stocks or a portfolio limited to a few select stocks that are exchange listed and traded in a single share.
MITTS (Market Index Target-Term Securities) track the performance of an underlying index and offer some principal protection.
Dividend Reinvestment Plans allow an individual investor to purchase common shares of stock directly from a company (that offers such a plan) through a plan administrator. Dividends earned by the shares are usually reinvested and go toward the purchase of additional shares. Most plans have a minimum monthly payment requirement ($25 to $100) and also charge a sales fee everytime a monthly payment / purchase is processed.
In May 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a revision of the proxy access rules. The purpose of the proposed revision of Rule 14a-11 is to remove impediments to the exercise of shareholders' rights to nominate and elect directors to company boards of directors. The new rules would require, under certain circumstances, a company to include in the company’s proxy materials a shareholder's, or group of shareholders', nominees for director. In addition, the new rules would require companies to include in their proxy materials, under certain circumstances, shareholder proposals that would amend, or that request an amendment to, a company’s governing documents regarding nomination procedures or disclosures related to shareholder nominations. The revision would essentially allow activist shareholders to replace board members and the company would also have to fund the activist's proxy materials.
www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/2009/33-9046.pdf
SEC Video - Proxy Access Rule Proposal ftp.sec.gov/news/speech/2009/video052009mls.wmv (MS Windows Media Video)
Private equity, which are investments related to corporate buyouts or venture capital investments (either individual venture capital companies of veture capital funds) in companies that buyout all shareholders, are removed from an exchange and become a privately held entity, raise a credit analysis concern in trying to accurately value those investments. Once removed from public ownership, the amount of disclosure regarding performance of the privately held entity is really up to the new owner. However, there is now a indication that there will be some sort of movement toward a standardized methodology to determine a fair value of private-equity assets held by a private-equity / venture capital fund. This request has come as some pension funds have been drawn to become investors in these funds due to the returns that many of these funds achieve. The requested methodology should include:
FINRA BrokerCheck www.finra.org/Investors/ToolsCalculators/BrokerCheck/index.htm
American Stock Exchange (AMEX; NYSE Amex) www.nyse.com/equities/nysealternextus/1218155408912.html (Acquired by NYSE Euronext on October 1, 2008, which also included the merger and rebranding of NYSE Alternext)
Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) www.adsx.ae/
Alpha ATS www.alphatradingsystems.ca/ (facilitates trading in securities listed on TSX and TSXV)
Amman Stock Exchange (Jordan) www.ase.com.jo/ (Arabic / English)
Argentina (MERVAL / Mercado de Valores de Buenos Aires) www.merval.sba.com.ar/ (Español / English)
Armenia NASDAQ OMX Armenia www.nasdaqomx.am/en/index.htm
Athens Stock Exchange www.ase.gr/
Australia Pacific Exchange, Ltd. (APX) www.apx.com.au/
Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) www.asx.com.au/
Bahamas International Securities Exchange www.bisxbahamas.com/
Bahrain Stock Exchange www.bahrainstock.com/
Barcelona Stock Exchange (Spain) www.borsabcn.es/
BATS Europe www.batstrading.co.uk/
BATS Exchange www.batstrading.com/
Bermuda Stock Exchange www.bsx.com/
Bolsa Boliviana de Valores (Bolivia) www.bolsa-valores-bolivia.com/ (Español)
Bolsa Centroamericana de Valores (Honduras) www.bcv.hn/ (Español)
Bolsa de Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain) www.borsabcn.es/ (Español / English)
Bolsa de Bilbao (Bilbao, Spain) www.bolsabilbao.es/ (Español / English)
Bolsa de Commercio de Buenos Aires (Argentina) www.bolsar.com/ (Español / English)
Bolsa Electrónica de Chile www.bolchile.cl/ (Español)
Bolsa Electrónica de Valores del Uruguay www.bevsa.com.uy/ (Español)
Bolsa Hondureña de Valores (Honduras) www.bhv.hn (Español / English)
Bolsa de Madrid (Madrid, Spain) www.bolsamadrid.es/esp/portada.htm (Español / English)
Bolsa de Valencia (Valencia, Spain) www.bolsavalencia.es/ (Español)
Bolsa de Valores de Caracas (Venezuela) www.caracasstock.com (Español)
Bolsa de Valores de Cabo Verde (Cape Verde Islands) www.bvc.cv/
Bolsa de Valores de Colombia www.bvc.com.co (Español)
Bolsa de Valores de El Slavador www.bves.com.sv (Español)
Bolsa de Valores de Lima (Peru) www.bvl.com.pe (Español / English)
Bolsa de Valores Minas Espírito Santo-Brasíla (Brazil) www.bovmesb.com.br/ (Português)
Bolsa de Valores de Montevideo (Uruguay) http://www.bvm.com.uy/ (Español)
Bolsa de Valores de Panamá www.panabolsa.com/ (Español / English)
Bolsa de Valores do Paraná (Brazil) www.bvpr.com.br/ (Portuguese)
Bolsa de Valores Quito (Ecuador) www.bolsadequito.com/ (Español)
Bolsa de Valores de Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) www.bvrj.com.br/ (Português)
Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo / BOVESPA (Brazil) http://www.bovespa.com.br/ (Português / English)
Bolsa de Valores y Productos de Asunción S.A. (Paraguay) www.bvpasa.com.py/
Bolsa Mexicana de Valores www.bmv.com.mx/
Bolsa Nacional de Valores / BNV (Costa Rica) www.bnv.co.cr/ (Español)
Bombay (Mumbai) Stock Exchange BSE (India) www.bseindia.com/
Borsa Italiana (Italian Stock Exchange) www.borsaitalia.it/ (Italiano / English)
Börse München (Germany) www.boerse-muenchen.de/ (Deutsch)
Börse Stuttgart (Germany) www.boerse-stuttgart.de/ (Deutsch / English)
Boston Stock Exchange (BSE) www.bostonstock.com/
Bratislavia Stock Exchange (Slovakia) www.bsse.sk/
Bucharest Stock Exchange (Romania) www.bvb.ro/
Budapest Stock Exchange (Hungary) www.bse.hu/
Bulgarian Stock Exchange (Sofia, Bulgaria) www.bse-sofia.bg/ (English)
Burgundy (Sweden) www.burgundy.se/
Bursa Sham Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) www.klse.com.my/
Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchanges (CASE / Egypt) www.egyptse.com/
Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE / India) www.cse-india.com/
Canadian National Stock Exchange (CNSX) www.cnsx.ca/
Casablanca Stock Exchange (Morocco / Bourse de Casablanca) www.casablanca-bourse.com (Français / English)
Cayman Islands Stock Exchange www.csx.com.ky/
CBOE Stock Exchange (CBSX) www.cbsx.com/
Channel Islands Stock Exchange www.cisx.com/
Chicago Stock Exchange (CHX) www.chx.com/
Chittagong Stock Exchange (India) www.csebd.com/
Chi-X Canada www.chi-xcanada.com/
Chi-X Europe www.chi-x.com/ (Pan-European electronic equities market)
Copenhagen Stock Exchange (Københavns Fondsbørs) CSE merged with the OMX Nordic Stock Exchange in 2005
Cyprus Stock Exchange www.cse.com.cy/
Deutsche Börse deutsche-boerse.com/ (Deutsch / English)
Direct Edge www.directedge.com/
Dubai Financial Market www2.dfm.ae/
Dubai NASDAQ Dubai (Borse Dubai / NASDAQ OMX Group) www.nasdaqdubai.com/
Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange www.ecseonline.com/
Equiduct Trading (Börse Berlin) www.equiduct-trading.com/
Euronext (NYSE Euronext) www.nyse.com/equities/nyseeuronextequities/1206398155269.html
Created through the merger of the Paris Bourse, the Amsterdam Exchanges (AEX), the Brussels Exchanges (BXS), the BVLP (Bolsa de Valores de Lisboa e Porto)
and the New York Stock Exchange.
Euronext Amsterdam (The Netherlands) www.euronext.com/landing/landingGeneral-18814-NL.html (Consolidated into NYSE Euronext)
Euronext Brussels (Belgium) www.euronext.com/landing/homeBrussels-21515-NL.html (Consolidated into NYSE Euronext)
www.euronext.com/landing/homeBrussels-21515-FR.html
Euronext Lisbon (Portugal) www.euronext.com/landing/landingGeneral-33119-PT.html (Consolidated into NYSE Euronext)
Euronext Paris (France) www.euronext.com/landing/indexMarket-18812-FR.htmldefaultgb.htm
Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse / FWB / Germany) deutsche-boerse.com/dbag/dispatch/en/kir/gdb_navigation/about_us/20_FWB_Frankfurt_Stock_Exchange
Helsinki Stock Exchange (HEX / Finland) HEX merged with the OMX Nordic Stock Exchange in 2003
Ho Chi Minh City Securities Trading Center (HoSTC / Viet Nam) www.vse.org.vn/ (Vietnamese / English)
Hong Kong Exchange and Clearing www.hkex.com.hk/
Iceland Stock Exchange (Kauphöll Íslands) ICEX merged with the OMX Nordic Stock Exchange in 2006
Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) www.bei.co.id/ (Indonesian / English)
Inet (formerly Island) www.island.com/
Instinet www.instinet.com/
International Securities Exchange (ISE) became a wholly owned subsidiary of Direct Edge in December 2008
Ireland Stock Exchange www.ise.ie/
Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB / Turkey) www.ise.org/
Jamaica Stock Exchange www.jamstockex.com/
Jonannesberg Stock Exchange (JSE / South Africa) www.jse.co.za/
Karachi Stock Exchange (Pakistan) www.kse.net.pk/
Kazakhstan Stock Exchange (KASE) www.kase.kz/
Kuwait Stock Exchange www.kse.com.kw/
Kyrgyz Stock Exchange www.kse.kg/
Libyan Stock Market www.lsm.ly/
Liquidnet www.liquidnet.com/
Lithuania (NSEL / National Stock Exchange / Nacionalinë vertybiniø popieriø birþa) www.nse.lt/ (Lithuanian / English)
Ljubljana Stock Exchange (Slovenia) www.ljse.si/
London Stock Exchange www.londonstockexchange.com/
Luxembourg Stock Exchange www.bourse.lu/
Macedonian Stock Exchange www.mse.org.mk/
Malawi Stock Exchange www.mse.co.mw/
Malta Stock Exchange (Borza Ta' Malta) www.borzamalta.com.mt/
Mauritius Stock Exchange www.semdex.com/
Moldova Stock Exchange www.moldse.md/default.htm
Mongolian Stock Exchange www.mse.mn/
Montréal Exchange (Bourse de Montréal) www.m-x.ca/
Muscat Securities Market www.msm.gov.om/
Nairobi Stock Exchange / NSE (Kenya) www.nse.co.ke/newsite/
Namibian Stock Exchange www.nsx.com.na/
NASDAQ www.nasdaq.com/
NASDAQ OMX Baltic www.nasdaqomxbaltic.com/
NASDAQ OMX First North www.nasdaqomxnordic.com/firstnorth/
NASDAQ OMX Nordic www.nasdaqomxnordic.com/
National Stock Exchange / NSX (formerly Cincinnati Stock Exchange) www.cincinnatistock.com/
National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) www.nse-india.com/
New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) www.nzx.com/
NewConnect (Poland) www.newconnect.pl/
NYSE Amex Equities (former American Stock Exchange / AMEX; former NYSE Alternext US) www.nyse.com/equities/nysealternextus/1218155408912.html
NYSE Arca Equities (former Archipelago / ArcaEx) www.nyse.com/equities/nysearcaequities/1156241406908.html
NYSE Euronext (New York Stock Exchange) www.nyse.com/
OFEX (United Kingdom) www.ofex.com/
Omega ATS omegaats.com/
OMX Nordic Exchange (NASDAQ OMX) www.nordicexchange.com/
Osaka Securities Exchange www.ose.or.jp/ (Japanese / English)
Oslo Börs (Norway) www.oslobors.no/
Pacific Exchange merged into NYSE Arca and no longer operates as a seperate brand / operation.
Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) www.phlx.com/
Philippine Stock Exchange www.pse.org.ph/
Prague Stock Exchange (Czech Republic) www.pse.cz/ (Czech / English)
Pune Stock Exchange (PSE / India) www.punestockexchange.com/
Pure Trading www.puretrading.ca/
Qatar Exchange (former Doha securities Market) (Qatar) www.dsm.com.qa/dsmsite/
Quote MTF www.quotemtf.com/
Rigas Fondu birza (Lavia / Riga Stock Exchange NASDAQ OMX Baltic Group) www.nasdaqomxbaltic.com/
Russian Trading system (RTS) www.rts.ru/
Santiago Stock Exchange (Chile) www.bolsantiago.cl/ (Español / English)
Sarajevo Stock Exchange (SASE / Bosnia / Sarajevska Berza) www.sase.ba/
Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadwul) www.tadawul.com.sa/
Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE / China) www.sse.com.cn/sseportal/en_us/ps/home.shtml (English)
Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SSE / China) www.szse.cn/main/en/ (English)
Singapore Exchange (SGX) www.sgx.com/
SIX Swiss Exchange (Switzerland) www.six-swiss-exchange.com/
Sociedade Operadora do Mercado de Ativos / SOMA (Brazil) www.somativos.com.br/ingles/main.htm
South Korea Stock Exchange www.kse.or.kr/ (Korean / English)
South Korea KOSDAQ (Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotation) english.kosdaq.or.kr/ (Korean / English)
Stockholmbörsen merged with the OMX Nordic Stock Exchange 1998
Surabaya Stock Exchange (Indonesia / Bursa Efek Surabaya) www.bes.co.id/ (Indonesian / English)
Taiwan Stock Exchange www.tse.com.tw/ (Chinese / English)
Tallinna Börs (Estonia / Talinin Stock Exchange NASDAQ OMX Baltic Group) www.nasdaqomxbaltic.com/
Tehran Stock Exchange (Iran) www.tse.or.ir/ (persian / English)
Tel-aviv Stock Exchange (Israel) hebrew.tase.co.il/ (Hebrew / English)
Thailand Stock Exchange www.set.or.th/en/index.html
Tirana Stock Exchange (Albania / Bursa e Tiranës) www.tse.com.al/ (English version under construction)
Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) www.tse.or.jp/english/index.shtml (English)
Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX / Canada) www.tsx.com/
Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange www.stockex.co.tt/
Tunis Stock Exchange (Tunisia / Bourse de Tunis) www.bvmt.com.tn/ (Français)
Turquoise www.tradeturquoise.com/
Ukranian Stock Exchange (Kiev) www.ukrse.kiev.ua/ (Ukranian / English)
Vilniaus birza (Lithuania / Vilnius Stock Exchange NASDAQ OMX Baltic Group) www.nasdaqomxbaltic.com/
Warsaw Stock Exchange (Poland / Gielda Papierów Wartosciowych w Warszawie) www.wse.com.pl/ (Polska / English)
Wiener Börse (Vienna Stock Exchange, Austria) www.wienerboerse.at/ (Deutsch / English)
Zagreb Stock Exchange (Croatia / Zagrebacka Burza) www.zse.hr/ (Hvartski / English)
