The Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX): information and trivia

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX)

Open since 1790

the oldest stock exchange in the USA.

Philadelphia, the financial heart of the nation, in 1790 had established the first stock exchange in the USA; yet, New York, a more easterly port, was first to receive news as ships arrived from Europe. The speeding coaches that clattered from New York to Philadelphia carried speculators and stock-jobbers, agents of foreign investors, and inside traders with privileged information which could move the market, and make a fortune at expense of the Philadelphia merchants.

The coups scored by these early commuters led a group of Philadelphia brokers to set up signal stations on high points across New Jersey. The signalmen watched through telescopes as coded flashes of light brought news of stock prices, lottery numbers and other important information. Relayed from station to station, the information could move from New York to Philadelphia in as little as 10 minutes, more quickly than any coach horse could run, so the system sharply narrowed the advantage of New York speculators. It remained in use until the arrival of the telegraph in 1846.

Such bold strokes of innovation have characterized the Philadelphia Stock Exchange from its inception.

The following extract from the minutes of an October 7, 1746 meeting of the Philadelphia Board of Aldermen explains why: "James Hamilton, Esq., Mayor, represented to the board that as it had been customary for the mayors of this city, at the going out of their office, to give an entertainment to the gentlemen of the corporation, he intended in lieu thereof, to give a sum of money equal at least to the sum usually expended on such occasions, to be laid out in something permanently useful to the city and proposed the sum of one hundred and fifty Pounds toward erecting an exchange or other public building."

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange had its start in the London Coffee House (1754-1790) located in Philadelphia.

Led by Robert Morris, Thomas Willing, Archibald McCall and Teach Francis, over two hundred Philadelphia merchants subscribed 348 Pounds to finance the opening of the London Coffee House in 1754 by William Bradford, a printer. The London Coffee House soon became the center of Philadelphia's business and political life. Sea captains, merchants, auctioneers, slave-traders and soldiers congregated here to do business and to talk politics. For many years, a portrait of King George hung on the Coffee House wall.

The Philadelphia Board of Brokers, which was officially licensed in 1790. This is seen as the year the stock exchange was open. In those days, the legal concept of a limited-liability corporation had not yet achieved wide acceptance. So it was not corporate stocks, but rather government and semi-government paper that traded on the exchange. Nonetheless, the public bought eagerly. For example, in 1791 promoters floated an issue of shares in the First Bank of the United States. Within a month, the shares quadrupled in price. Similarly, when the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Navigation Company offered 1,000 shares to the public at $400.00 per share, the issue was forty times oversubscribed, and a lottery was held to select lucky buyers. The City Tavern (later re-named the Merchants Coffee House) functioned as the city’s exchange from 1790 to 1834. On March 23, 1834, a fire destroyed the building.
In December 1968, in response to a fiscal crisis, the City of Philadelphia imposed a $0.05-per-share stock transfer tax for all transactions on PHLX. In response, on January 2, 1969, the PHLX moved its trading floor to a building then known as the Decker Building just across City Line Avenue in Bala Cynwyd to avoid tax. In February, a court ruled that the tax was illegal, and the PHLX moved its trading floor back to its headquarters in the city.

In 2005, a number of large financial firms purchased stakes in the Exchange as a hedge against growing consolidation of stock trading by New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. These firms--Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston, UBS AG, Merrill Lynch and Citadel Investment Group--collectively own 45% of the exchange.

http://www.phlx.com/

1900 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
T 1-800-THE-PHLX or 215-496-5000
F 215-496-5460

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Vice President, Compliance
Philadelphia Stock Exchange
1900 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Trivia

The fifth most populous city in the United States and the largest in population and area in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The population of the city (at the 2000 census) is 1,517,550. It is the second largest city on the U.S. East Coast (after New York), and a major commercial and cultural center for the East Coast.

Sport sides
Philadelphia Eagles American Football National Football League; NFC 3 (1948, 1949, 1960) Lincoln Financial Field
Philadelphia Flyers Ice Hockey National Hockey League; Eastern 2 (1973-74, 1974-75) Wachovia Center
Philadelphia Phillies Baseball Major League Baseball; NL 1 (1980) Citizens Bank Park
Philadelphia 76ers Basketball National Basketball Association; Eastern 2 (1966-67, 1982-83) Wachovia Center
Philadelphia Phantoms Ice Hockey American Hockey League 2 (1997-98, 2004-05) Wachovia Spectrum
Philadelphia Wings Indoor Lacrosse National Lacrosse League 6 (1989, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2001) Wachovia Center
Philadelphia Barrage Field Lacrosse Major League Lacrosse 1 (2004) Villanova Stadium
Philadelphia Soul Arena football Arena Football League 0 Wachovia Center
Philadelphia KiXX Indoor soccer Major Indoor Soccer LePhiladelphia in motion pictures
list of films set in the city

Rocky (1976) Rocky II (1979), Rocky III (1982)
Blow Out (1981)
Trading Places (1983)
Witness (1985)
Mannequin (1987)
Rocky V (1990)
Mannequin 2: On The Move (1991)
Philadelphia (1993)
12 Monkeys (1995)
Up Close and Personal (1996)
The Sixth Sense (1999)
Unbreakable (2000)
State Property (2002)
The Italian Job (2003)
National Treasure (2004)
Shadowboxer (2005)
In Her Shoes (2005)
Rocky Balboa (2006)