The work of the Stock Exchange

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1831284952

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-225876

Document type:: Monograph

Author:: Meeker, James Edward http://d-nb.info/gnd/126597340

Title:: The work of the Stock Exchange

Edition:: Revised edition

Place of publication:: New York

Publisher:: The Ronald Press Company

Year of publication:: [1930]

Scope:: XVI, 720 Seiten; Illustrationen, Diagramme

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XV. The commission house

Collection:: Economics Books

THE COMMISSION HOUSE 411 green cardboard price tickets printed with black figures are inserted. The record of the active stocks which the board con- tains, runs vertically, giving the highest, lowest, and last cur- rent quotations for the day. Above each individual stock record is usually a red plate, containing the ticker symbol of the given stock in white letters, as well as its latest dividend rate. On one side of the board (if the house executes orders in other stock or produce markets) is a space for stocks listed only on out-of-town exchanges, and for such speculative and staple commodities as cotton, wheat, corn, pork, sugar, etc., etc. The “board boy’* ceaselessly paces up and down in front of the board, changing the latest quotation by inserting new cards, as new prices are called out to him by another employee of the house standing beside the stock ticker, to one side of the board. This latter instrument, together with the somewhat similar news tickers containing a record of the latest announce- ments and events occurring all over the world, fill the room with a low metallic stuttering. Thus the spectator can see easily and quickly just what the various markets are “doing.” Difficulties of Financial Abbreviation.—But to read stock quotations, considerable technical knowledge is necessary. The various stocks are each indicated, not by their full titles, but by a system of abbreviations or symbols which the exigencies of time and space—both precious in Wall Street—make neces- sary. Some symbols are obvious enough—even the amateur might suspect that “PA” indicated the Pennsylvania Rail- road. But most stock symbols are more difficult to identify than this, and before they all become at once recognizable con- stant reference must be had to the explanatory list of symbols hung near the stock ticker. The amateur’s difficulty is only increased by the hasty and unintelligible explanations given him by experts. If he asks to what stock “MN” may refer, he will probably be told “Mexican Pete,” which is not the sobriquet of some southwestern desperado but an abbreviated “See Appendix XVa

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