PSE - Pacific Exchange, California USA

Once located in San Francisco, the Pacific Exchange is a regional stock exchange for California in the United States. The stock exchange was founded in 1882 as the San Francisco Stock and Bond exchange. In 1957, the Stock and Bond exchange merged with the Los Angeles Oil Exchange to form the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange. The exchange was later renamed to the Pacific Stock Exchange in 1973 and then later it became the Pacific Exchange in 1997. Initially trading floors were kept in both San Francisco and Los Angeles though the Los Angeles trading floor was closed in 2001 and then the San Francisco trading floor was closed in 2002. The move was a result of demutualization whereby the organisation aimed to become a profit-making public company that would be more appealing to shareholders. This demutualization took place in 1999 and the Pacific Exchange was the first United States stock exchange to go through this process.

Today equity trading on the Pacific Exchange takes place only through the electronic communications network NYSE ARCA. The original stock exchange building was later converted into a gymnasium by private developers though the options tradition floor in the Mills Building is still open. Another milestone in the history of the Pacific Exchange was that of the launching of the PCX Plus. This electronic options trading platform allowed traders to enjoy greater freedom and higher levels of transparency. Things changed again in 2005 when the exchange was bought by Archipelago Holdings. In 2006, Archipelago Holdings was bought by the New York Stock Exchange causing Pacific Exchange to change ownership yet again. As of yet the New York Stock Exchange Group Inc has chosen not to conduct any business operations under the Pacific Exchange name. This has resulted in the end of the corporation’s separate identity.

In the meantime, California continues to enjoy an excellent economy. It is estimated that if the State of California were an independent nation, it would be rated tenth in the world in terms of economy size and GSP. The state’s wealth is derived from several different commercial avenues such as space exploration, the TV and film industry, agriculture, computer hardware and software development and trade.

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