Wall Street Culture

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Say "the streets of New York" to a non-American, and he'll probably think of Times Square, Madison Avenue, or Broadway; but mention the subject to an American and for many, the first name that comes to mind will be Wall Street.

For many, Wall Street is indeed just "the street", probably the most important street in the USA or even in the world, as what goes on on Wall Street, more perhaps than what goes on in Congress, can have a direct influence on the lives of everyone in the USA, if not most people in the world.

Wall Street is of course the home of the New York Stock Exchange, the financial heart of the American business world. Each day, billions of dollars of shares are traded on the floor of the stock exchange on behalf of companies, pension funds, and private individuals wanting to protect their investments or their life's savings, and make sure that they too are on the bandwagon of prosperity.

The New York Stock Exchange is the biggest and most active stock exchange in the world; over half of all adult Americans have some, if not all, of their savings invested directly on Wall Street, so it is not surprising that the fluctuations of the Street's famous indexes, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq, are followed daily by millions of ordinary Americans. When the Dow and the Nasdaq are on a rise, millions of Americans feel more prosperous; when they are falling, millions start feeling worried about their financial security and their retirement years. Yet more importantly, when Wall Street booms it is a sign that the American economy is booming, creating jobs and prosperity for people throughout the nation; when Wall Street slumps for more than a short period, it is because the American economy is slowing down, putting investment and jobs at risk. 

Over time, direct investments on Wall Street have always done better than most other forms of long-term placement, and logically speaking this is inevitable.