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Wall Street

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Business; North American
Geography

   Elaborate marble facade of NYSE as seen from Broad and Wall Streets
   Enlarge
   Elaborate marble facade of NYSE as seen from Broad and Wall Streets

   Wall Street is a narrow street in lower Manhattan in New York City,
   running east from Broadway downhill to the East River. Considered to be
   the historical heart of the Financial District, it was the first
   permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange.

   The phrase "Wall Street" is also used as a metonym to refer to American
   financial markets and financial institutions as a whole. Most New York
   financial firms are no longer headquartered on Wall Street, but
   elsewhere in lower or midtown Manhattan, Fairfield County, Connecticut,
   or New Jersey. JPMorgan Chase, the last major holdout, sold its
   headquarters tower at 60 Wall Street to Deutsche Bank in November 2001.

History

   View in Wall Street from Corner of Broadway, 1867. The building on the
   left was the U.S. Customs House at the time but is today the Federal
   Hall National Memorial.
   Enlarge
   View in Wall Street from Corner of Broadway, 1867. The building on the
   left was the U.S. Customs House at the time but is today the Federal
   Hall National Memorial.

   The name of the street derives from the fact that during the 17th
   century, it formed the northern boundary of the New Amsterdam
   settlement. In the 1640s basic picket and plank fences denoted plots
   and residences in the colony. Later, on behalf of the West India
   Company, Peter Stuyvesant, in part using African slaves, led the Dutch
   in the construction of a stronger stockade. By the time war had
   developed with the English, a strengthened 12 foot wall of timber and
   earth was created by 1653 fortified by palisades. The wall was created,
   and strengthened over time, as a defense against attack from various
   Indian tribes, New England colonists, and the British. In 1685
   surveyors laid out Wall Street along the lines of the original
   stockade. The wall was dismantled by the British in 1699.

   In the late 18th century, there was a buttonwood tree at the foot of
   Wall Street under which traders and speculators would gather to trade
   informally. In 1792, the traders formalized their association with the
   Buttonwood Agreement. This was the origin of the New York Stock
   Exchange.

   In 1889, the original stock report, Customers' Afternoon Letter, became
   the The Wall Street Journal, named in reference to the actual street,
   it is now an influential international daily business newspaper
   published in New York City. For many years, it had the widest
   circulation of any newspaper in the United States, although it is
   currently second to USA Today. It is owned by Dow Jones & Company.

Decline and revitalization

   The Manhattan Financial District is one of the largest business
   districts in the United States, and second in New York City only to
   Midtown. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the corporate
   culture of New York was a primary centre for the construction of
   skyscrapers (rivaled only by Chicago). The Financial District, even
   today, actually makes up a distinct skyline of its own, separate from
   but not soaring to quite the same heights as its midtown counterpart a
   few miles to the north.
   September 16, 1920: a bomb exploded in front of the headquarters of
   J.P. Morgan Inc. at 23 Wall Street, killing 40 and injuring 300 people.
   Enlarge
   September 16, 1920: a bomb exploded in front of the headquarters of
   J.P. Morgan Inc. at 23 Wall Street, killing 40 and injuring 300 people.

   Built in 1914, 23 Wall Street was known as the " House of Morgan" and
   for decades the bank's headquarters was the most important address in
   American finance. At noon, on September 16, 1920, a bomb exploded in
   front of the bank, killing 40 and injuring 400. Shortly before the bomb
   went off a warning note was placed in a mailbox at the corner of Cedar
   Street and Broadway. The warning read: Remember we will not tolerate
   any longer. Free the political prisoners or it will be sure death for
   all of you. American Anarchists Fighters. While theories abound about
   who was behind the Wall Street bombing and why they did it, after
   twenty years investigating the matter, the FBI rendered the file
   inactive in 1940 without ever finding the perpetrators.
   A solemn crowd gathers outside the NYSE after the crash.
   Enlarge
   A solemn crowd gathers outside the NYSE after the crash.

   1929 brought the " Great Crash" of the stock market, ushering in the
   Great Depression. During this era, new development of the Financial
   District had stagnated. The construction of the World Trade Centre was
   one of the few major projects undertaken during the last three quarters
   of the 20th Century and, financially, it was never terribly successful.
   Some point to the fact that it was actually a government-funded
   project, constructed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
   with the intention of spurring economic development in downtown. All
   the tools necessary to international trade were to be housed in the
   complex. However, at the beginning much of the space remained vacant.

   Nonetheless, some large and powerful firms did purchase space in the
   World Trade Center. Further, it attracted other powerful businesses to
   the immediate neighborhood. In some ways, it could be argued that the
   World Trade Center changed the nexus of the Financial District from
   Wall Street to the Trade Center complex. When the World Trade Centre
   was destroyed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, it left somewhat of an
   architectural void as new developments since the 1970s had played off
   the complex aesthetically. The attacks, however, contributed to the
   loss of business on Wall Street, due to temporary-to-permanent
   relocation to New Jersey and further decentralization with
   establishments transferred to cities like Chicago and Boston.

   Wall Street itself and the Financial District as a whole are crowded
   with highrises by any standard of measure. Further, the loss of the
   World Trade Center has actually spurred development in the Financial
   District on a scale that hasn't been seen in decades. This is in part
   due to tax incentives provided by the federal, state and local
   governments to encourage development. A new World Trade Centre complex,
   centered on Daniel Liebeskind's Memory Foundations plan, is in the
   early stages of development and one building has already been replaced.
   The centerpiece to this plan is the 1,776-foot tall Freedom Tower. New
   residential buildings are already sprouting up, and buildings that were
   previously office space are being converted to residential units, also
   benefiting from the tax incentives. Better access to the Financial
   District is planned in the form of a new commuter rail station and a
   new downtown transportation centre centered on Fulton Street.

Wall Street today

   View up Wall Street from Pearl Street
   Enlarge
   View up Wall Street from Pearl Street

   To say that a corporation is a "Wall Street company" today does not
   necessarily mean that the company is physically located on Wall Street.
   It more likely means that the firm deals with financial services; such
   a firm could be headquartered in many places across the globe. Today,
   much of Wall Street's workforce tends to be made up of professionals
   working in the fields of law or finance who work for medium- to
   large-sized corporations. Many of the nearby businesses are local
   companies and chain stores that cater to the tastes of professionals
   and to the needs of the workforce. Most people who work in the
   Financial District commute in from suburbs in Long Island, Connecticut,
   Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the northern Hudson Valley.

   Wall Street's culture is often criticized as being rigid. This is a
   decades-old stereotype stemming from the Wall Street's establishment's
   protection of their interests, and the link to the WASP establishment.
   More recent criticism has centered on structural problems and lack of a
   desire to change well-established habits. Wall Street's establishment
   resists government oversight and regulation. At the same time, New York
   City has a reputation as a very bureaucratic city, which makes entry
   into the neighbourhood difficult or even impossible for middle class
   entrepreneurs. Finally, the New York Stock Exchange itself remains the
   last great holdout where trading is done entirely on the floor rather
   than electronically. There is, ironically, no longer really any need
   for Wall Street the institution to be located on Wall Street the
   street, except perhaps for prestige. Stocks could easily be traded
   almost anywhere.

   Since the founding of the Federal Reserve banking system, the Federal
   Reserve Bank of New York in the Financial District has been the point
   where monetary policy in the United States is implemented (although
   it's decided in Washington, D.C. by the Federal Reserve Bank's Board of
   Governors). As such, New York State is today unique in that it's the
   only state that constitutes its own district of the Federal Reserve
   Banking system. This is perhaps partly owed to population distribution
   in the United States of the time, however. Until the 1960s, New York
   was the most populated state in the U.S.; it now ranks third, behind
   California and Texas. The NY Federal Reserve's president is the only
   regional Bank president with a permanent vote and is traditionally
   selected as its vice chairman. The bank has a gold vault 80 feet (25 m)
   beneath the street. This depository is the largest in the world, larger
   even than Fort Knox.

Buildings

   Federal Hall, Wall Street.
   Enlarge
   Federal Hall, Wall Street.

   Wall Street's architecture is generally rooted in the Gilded Age,
   though there are also some art deco influences in the neighbourhood.
   Landmark buildings on Wall Street include Federal Hall, and the New
   York Stock Exchange at the corner of Broad Street.

Personalities

   Over the years, certain persons associated with Wall Street have become
   famous, even legendary. Although their reputation is usually limited to
   members of the stock brokerage/ banking community, several have gained
   national and international fame. Some earned their fame for their
   investment strategies, financing, reporting, legal or regulatory
   skills, while others are remembered for their greed. One of the most
   iconic representations of the market prosperity is the Charging Bull
   sculpture, by Arturo Di Modica. Representing the bull market economy,
   the sculpture was originally placed in front of the New York Stock
   Exchange, and subsequently moved to its current location in Bowling
   Green.

Cultural influence

Wall Street vs. Main Street

   As a figure of speech contrasted to " Main Street," the term "Wall
   Street" can refer to big business interests against those of small
   business and the working or middle class. It is sometimes used more
   specifically to refer to research analysts, shareholders, and/or
   financial institutions such as investment banks. The idea of "Main
   Street" conjures images up small town and suburban single-family homes
   and small businesses. While the phrase "Wall Street" is commonly used
   interchangeably with the phrase " Corporate America", it is also
   sometimes used in contrast to distinguish between the interests,
   culture, and lifestyles of investment banks and those of Fortune 500
   industrial or service corporations.

Perceptions

   Trinity church from Wall Street.
   Enlarge
   Trinity church from Wall Street.

   The Gilded Age architecture and culture of the time gave rise to many
   modern stereotypes about corporate culture that exist to this day, at
   least in the United States. Some of these stereotypes can perhaps be
   said to have existed well beyond their time. Mentioning Wall Street of
   years past conjures up images of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
   businessmen seated around mahogany boardroom tables smoking cigars and
   discussing their holdings and making backroom deals. To labor unions,
   small businesses all over the country and the world, and even to the
   middle class, Wall Street culturally could easily serve as a symbol of
   aloofness to the concerns of every day people.

   The older skyscrapers often were built with elaborate facades; such
   elaborate aesthetics haven't been common in corporate architecture for
   decades. The World Trade Centre, built in the 1970s, was very plain and
   utilitarian in comparison (the Twin Towers were often criticized as
   looking like two big boxes, despite their impressive height).

   Wall Street, more than anything, represents financial and economic
   power. To Americans, Wall Street can sometimes represent elitism and
   power politics and cut-throat capitalism, but it also stirs feelings of
   pride about the market economy. Wall Street, despite the inevitable
   corruption, became the symbol of a country and economic system that
   many Americans see as having developed not through colonialism and
   plunder, but through trade, capitalism, and innovation.

In literature and popular culture

   Herman Melville's classic short story Bartleby the Scrivener is
   subtitled A Story of Wall Street and provides an excellent portrayal of
   a kind and wealthy lawyer's struggle to reason with that which is
   unreasonable as he is pushed beyond his comfort zone to "feel"
   something real for humanity.

   In William Faulkner's novel The Sound and the Fury, Jason Compson hits
   on other perceptions of Wall Street: after finding some of his stocks
   are doing poorly, he blames the Jews.

   Wall Street was the subject of a 1970s pop song, "Wall Street Shuffle"
   by 10cc.

   The film Wall Street exemplifies many popular conceptions of Wall
   Street, being a tale of shady corporate dealings and insider trading.

   In Godzilla , Godzilla walks down Wall Street after stomping through
   Fulton Fish Market.

   In the Star Trek universe, the Ferengi, an ultra-capitalist race of
   extraterrestrials, regularly make religious pilgrimages to Wall Street
   (as it exists in that universe), since they value similar traits in
   other species.

Similar institutions

   Wall Street Sign
   Enlarge
   Wall Street Sign

   The financial clout of Wall Street is most rivaled only by:
     * London's " Square Mile," the financial heart of the United Kingdom
     * Tokyo's financial institutions

   Smaller international rivals include:
     * Mumbai, Dalal Street
     * Frankfurt, nicknamed "Mainhattan" (for Manhattan on the river Main)
       because it is the centre of the German Economy and has many
       highrise buildings
     * Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California, is the heart of the
       venture capital industry.
     * Makati City (the Philippines' financial centre)
     * Avenida Paulista, São Paulo, the economic hub of South America
     * I.I Chundrigar Road, Dhaka - Known as "The Wall Street of
       Bangladesh"

   In North America, the nearest rivals are:
     * commodity exchange markets in Chicago, Illinois, USA, most notably
       the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (the CME is listed on the New York
       Stock Exchange)
     * Historically, the Pacific Stock Exchange in San Francisco was the
       major exchange on the West Coast, although it has been replaced
       entirely by electronic trading
     * Bay Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Canada's financial heart)

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
