17 May: The New York Stock Exchange

The New York Stock Exchange was created on this date in 1792. 10 things you might not know about the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

1. It all began when 24 stockbrokers held a meeting under a tree. A buttonwood tree, to be exact, on what is now Wall Street in New York City, which is why the agreement they all signed that day is called the Buttonwood Agreement. This agreement still exists - it is on display in the NYSE Building in a temperature and humidity controlled Glass case.
2. It wasn't the first stock exchange to be set up in America. That was the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, set up in 1790.
3. The first company to be listed on the exchange was the Bank of New York.
4. The Stock Exchange didn't move into its current home until 1903. The NYSE Building was designed by George B. Post with a façade sculpted by J.A. Ward and entitled “Integrity Protecting the Works of Man.”
5. Initially, only men were allowed on the trading floor. The first woman to buy a seat on the exchange was Muriel Siebert in 1967. A room in the NYSE building is named after her, and there is memorabilia related to her on display, including a multi-hued faux fur jacket she once wore on the trading floor.
6. In 1904, Czar Nicholas II of Russia issued a $1 billion bond. He was so grateful to the Exchange for handling the deal that he gifted it with an urn made by the House of Fabergé and bearing the czar’s crest. According to NYSE archivist Peter Asch, it is the largest piece Fabergé ever created.
7. Before the Exchange acquired telephones in 1878, runners known as "deer" would run between the Exchange and nearby offices to deliver quotes. Today, a lot of trading is done online and so the numbers of people who actually show up to the trading floor to do their business in person is dwindling. It reached a peak in 2000 when about 5,000 people would turn up every day to trade. Nowadays, there will be 500 to 1,000 people there on an average day.
8. On 16 September 1920, a bomb exploded on Wall Street outside the NYSE building. 33 were killed people more than 400 injured. The NYSE building still has marks on its façade caused by the bombing. The perpetrators were never found.
9. At time of writing, the President of the NYSE is Stacey Cunningham, who took over from Thomas Farley in May 2018. She is the first female leader in the exchange's 226-year history.
10. NYSE has a famous bell to signal the beginning and end of the trading day. It replaced a Chinese gong which was used before 1903, which had itself replaced a gavel. In fact, there are four bells, controlled by a central button. The sound of the bell is trademarked. There are strict rules about how long the bell is sounded for - 10 seconds to open the market in the morning, 15 to close it in the afternoon. Anyone ringing the bell who doesn't ring it for the exact right number of seconds will get booed from the floor. Since the 1990s there has been a tradition of inviting important guests to ring the bell. The first guest to be invited dates back further - it was a 10 year old boy called Leonard Ross, who won the honour as a prize on a TV quiz show in which he answered questions on the Stock Exchange, back in 1956. Guests are most often officials at companies undertaking an initial public offering at the Exchange but celebrities and world leaders are sometimes invited, too. Members of the New York police and fire departments following the events of 9/11, Liza Minnelli, Mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani, swimming champion Michael Phelps, Snoop Dogg, United Nations Secretaries General Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon, Tony Blair and Nelson Mandela have all rung the bell. So have Mickey Mouse, the Pink Panther, Mr. Potato Head and Darth Vader. And yes, had any of those people failed to ring the bell for the correct number of seconds, they would have been booed.

Closing the Circle

A stable wormhole has been established between Earth and Infinitus. Power Blaster and his friends can finally go home.

Desi Troyes is still at large on Earth - Power Blaster has vowed to bring him to justice. His wedding to Shanna is under threat as the Desperadoes launch an attempt to rescue their leader. 

Someone from Power Blaster's past plays an unexpected and significant role in capturing Troyes.

The return home brings its own challenges. Not everyone can return to the life they left behind, and for some, there is unfinished business to be dealt with before they can start anew.

Ben Cole in particular cannot resume his old life as a surgeon because technology no longer works around him. He plans a new life in Classica, away from technology. Shanna hears there could be a way to reverse his condition and sets out to find it, putting herself in great danger. She doesn't know she is about to uncover the secret of Power Blaster's mysterious past.

Available from:

Amazon (Paperback)

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Completes The Raiders Trilogy. 

Other books in the series:

Book One

Book Two