NASDAQ

National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations

Serious Information

Trivia

NASDAQ (pronounced "Naz" "Dak") is a USA electronic stock exchange, founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), who divested it in a series of sales in 2000 and 2001. It is owned and operated by The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. which has been listed on its own stock exchange since 2002.

When it began trading on February 8, 1971, it was the world's first stock market. It was merely a computer bulletin board system and did not connect buyers to sellers. The NASDAQ helped lower the "spread", but was unpopular among brokerages because they made much of their money on the spread. Over the years, NASDAQ became more of a stock market by adding trade and volume reporting and automated trading systems. NASDAQ was also the first stock market to advertise to the general public, highlighting NASDAQ traded companies and closing with the declaration that NASDAQ was "the stock market for the next 100 years".

Until 87, most trading occurred via telephone, but during the 87 crash, market makers often didn't answer their phones. To counteract this, the Small Order Execution System was established, which providing an electronic method for dealers to enter trades. NASDAQ requires market makers to honor trades over SOES.
The technology heavy NASDAQ Composite index peaked in 2000, reflecting the peak of the dotcom bubble. Within a year it had declined to less than half this. The rapid devaluation was cited by Al Gore as a reason he lost the Election of 2000. On July 17, 1995 the NASDAQ stock index closed above the 1,000 mark for the first time. The index peaked at 5132.52 on March 10, 2000, which signaled the beginning of the end of the dotcom bubble. The index declined to half its value within a year and is still valued at less than half its peak. However, NASDAQ is the biggest US electronic stock market.

In December of 2005, the London Stock Exchange rejected a £1.5 billion takeover offer from Macquarie Bank. The LSE described the offer as "derisory." It then received a bid in March of 2006 for £2.4 billion from NASDAQ, which was also rejected by the LSE.

In 2006 The high tech US stock exchange Nasdaq said earnings rose 42% compared to the same time 12 months ago and also raised its income forecast for 2006.
The attempt of Nasdaq to branch out into Japan ran from 2000 - 02.

The NASDAQ-100 is a stock market index of 100 of the largest domestic and international non- financial companies listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange based on market capitalization with certain rules capping the influence of the largest components. Unlike the S&P 500, it does not contain financial companies.

NASDAQ-100 is often abbreviated as NDX. Its corresponding futures contracts are traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The regular futures are called ND, as in NDM6 for the June, 2006 expiration. The e-mini versions are called NQ. ND and NQ are among the most heavily traded futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Trivia

Despite the high tech image of NASDAQ, squirrels have brought down the electronic exchange twice. A squirrel knocked out the power in 1994, and the NASDAQ system failed to roll over to its battery backup, causing an interruption in trading of one half hour. In 1987, a squirrel entered a transformer and caused a power surge, halting trading for 82 minutes. Other instances of downtime have occurred when computer systems have unexpectedly rebooted or software upgrades have gone wrong.

In May 2006 the USA stock market operator Nasdaq increased its holding in the London Stock Exchange (LSE) to 25.1%.
Nasdaq has sponsored a tennis tournament the NASDAQ-100 Open. Federer won it in 2006.

In March 2006 the US Nasdaq Stock Market has withdrew a proposed £2.43bn ($4.2bn) bid for the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

In 2002 The NASDAQ Stock Market was opened by Michael C. Hall, who was starring in CHICAGO as lawyer Billy Flynn, to the Market Open. Michael C. Hall stars in the hit HBO series SIX FEET UNDER and is an Emmy Award nominee as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Dramatic Series, for his performance as David Fisher, the uptight brother who helps run the family mortuary. The show received a total of 23 Emmy nominations that year making it the highest nominated series.

Superstar Michael Jackson was asked to open a day's trading on the Nasdaq stock market in 2001.

Google's was one of the the most famous stock exchange listings

Links on websites on subject

http://www.nasdaq.com/ The homepage of the stock exchange

http://www.cityequities.com/
http://www.moneyweek.com

government_bond information

N_a_s_d_a_q

pronounced "NAZDAK"
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