What is the NYSE Stock Market?

The NYSE is short for the New York Stock Exchange, a large stock market exchange where companies can offer stocks through stockbrokers and shareholders can buy them. As of 2015 it is the largest stock exchange in the world in terms of market capitalization, according to Business News Daily.

The NYSE was founded in 1792 with an agreement between merchants and stockbrokers called the Buttonwood Agreement, reports the Library of Congress Business Reference Services. The agreement outlined rules and regulations for selling and buying stocks in New York City. It was been open ever since, except for brief closures during the U.S. entry into the First World War and September 11, 2001.

The NYSE is a transatlantic stock exchange. It merged with another exchange called Euronext in 2007 to become NYSE Euronext.