Stock Markets on the Open Market: Exchanges Go Public, Generate Windfalls
If you think the stocks on the Nasdaq Stock Market have been doing well, take a look at the stock of the Nasdaq Stock Market.</br></br>In a little more than a year, shares of Nasdaq have soared from about $9 to Friday's close of $39.81, making more than $500 million in profit for the few investors who even knew they could own stock in the market.</br></br>Nasdaq Stock Market shares began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market (where else?) a year ago this month when the market began its spinoff from NASD, the Washington-based nonprofit group that created Nasdaq.</br></br>Soon the New York Stock Exchange will follow Nasdaq, transforming itself from an organization owned by its member traders and firms into a publicly owned, profit-making business. The move is awaiting approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which could come as soon as this week.</br></br>Based on what's happened to the stocks of Nasdaq and two other markets that have gone public, Washington area investors might make some money by buying stock in the NYSE.