USA Equities

In the United States, the main Stock Exchanges for our offshore U.S clients are: the American Stock Exchange, the Arizona Stock Exchange, the Boston Stock Exchange, the Cincinnati Stock Exchange, the Chicago Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq Stock Market, the New York Stock Exchange, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange and the San Diego Stock Exchange.

AMERICAN STOCK EXCHANGE

Out of the three major American stock exchanges, the AMEX is known to have the most liberal policies concerning company listing, as most of its companies (small to medium cap stocks of younger or smaller companies compared to the NYSE and NASDAQ). 

NASDAQ

Originally an acronym for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations is an American electronic stock exchange. With approximately 3,300 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market.   

NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), also nicknamed the "Big Board", is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and second largest by number of companies listed. The NYSE trades in a continuous auction format.

The main indexes are:

• S&P 500: the S&P 500 (Standard and Poor's 500) is a basket of 500 stocks that are considered to be widely held (chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation). This index provides a broad snapshot of the overall U.S. equity market; in fact, over 70% of all U.S. equity is tracked by the S&P 500. Its performance is thought to be representative of the stock market as a whole. The S&P 500 is used by 97% of U.S. money managers and pension plan sponsors.
• DOW JONES AVERAGE - 30 Industrial: prepared and published by Dow Jones & Co. is one of the oldest and most widely quoted of all the market indicators. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is comprised of 30 stocks that are major factors in their industries (blue-chip stocks that are generally the leaders in their industry), and widely held by individuals and institutional investors. Stocks in the DJIA (Dow Jones Indus. Avg) represent about a fifth of the $8 trillion-plus market value of all U.S. stocks and about a fourth of the value of stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
• NASDAQ-100: the NASDAQ-100 Index includes 100 of the largest domestic and international non-financial securities listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market based on market capitalization. The Index reflects companies across major industry groups including computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. It does not contain securities of financial companies including investment companies.