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一幕令人难以忘怀：自9.11恐怖袭击开始的四个工作日内，纽约证券交易所（New York Stock Exchange，简称：纽交所）暂停了交易，当时就在不远处，世界贸易中心（World Trade Center）的废墟上的烈火还在燃烧。当时的纽交所是一家非盈利企业，从某个方面讲，纽交所自1792年以来几乎没有改变：数千名交易员扯着嗓门喊出买入或卖出的订单。由于曼哈顿下城被尘埃所覆盖，政府官员又禁止一切非必要人员进入该区域，直到之后的周一（9月17日）纽交所才重新开市。
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
8月12日开盘之前，纽约证交所交易大厅内十分安静。
纽交所对其交易大厅的依赖程度已经大大降低，其2006年收购电子交易商Archipelago及其同德意志交易所（Deutsche Borse AG）合并的待决交易增加了其全球知名度。纽约大学斯特恩商学院（New York University's Stern School of Business）教授史密斯（Roy Smith）说，如今，华尔街与其说是一个地理概念，不如说是一个心理概念。
9.11恐怖袭击发生之后，观察人士预测，纽约金融业精英会因安全风险逃离曼哈顿南端，纽约的金融业也可能萎缩。10年后，纽约金融业的规模确实缩小了，金融机构的分布也更加广泛。纽约州数据显示，纽约市证券业从业人员的数量从超过19万人下降到16.8万人。世贸双塔的倒塌加快了大公司撤出曼哈顿下城的步伐。曾是世界贸易中心最大租户的摩根士丹利（Morgan Stanley）已将其总部搬至中城，并将其它一些业务迁出纽约，以避免业务中断的影响。
但华尔街却远未荒芜。纽交所、德意志银行（Deutsche Bank AG）和纽约梅隆银行（Bank of New York Mellon Corp.）是那些主要业务还留在“街”上的金融机构的代表。在曼哈顿下城六个街区之遥，高盛集团（Goldman Sachs Group Inc.）新总部大楼已经启用，大楼就位于从未离开纽约的金融业巨头美国运通公司（American Express Co.）的北面。
电子化交易的兴起减少了利润丰厚的佣金收入，主要金融机构因此转向了固定收益证券等其它业务，这包括在2005年前后的经济繁荣期时各类住房贷款支持证券的销售。
虽然这一业务在2005至2007年期间推高了华尔街的利润，并令无数交易员发财，但它同时也为2008年金融危机的爆发做了铺垫。
由于投资者规避风险，贝尔斯登（Bear Stearns）和雷曼兄弟（Lehman Brothers）这样一度受人尊敬的公司因没有能够得到救援资金而纷纷倒下。在9.11恐怖袭击之前，雷曼兄弟曾租用世界贸易中心和毗邻的世界金融中心（World Financial Center）的办公室，9.11之后才搬到中城。三年前的9月雷曼兄弟的破产迫使政府提供价值数万亿美元的担保以支持银行系统和金融市场，这也为如今紧张的市场和脆弱的经济复苏埋下了隐患。
有的人说对金融业的担忧已经过了头。但银行业的前景何时能够变得清晰尚不清楚。史密斯说，对于金融行业来说，现在的情形像9.11恐怖袭击时一样糟糕，但却不敌9.11后从繁荣到萧条的那个过程。
Suzanne Kapner / Randall Smith / Aaron Lucchetti
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
It is an image that is hard to forget: The New York Stock Exchange not trading for the four business days starting with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as fires raged in what was left of the nearby World Trade Center.
The NYSE was a not-for-profit company that in one way had changed little since 1792: Thousands of traders shouted orders to buy or sell. With Lower Manhattan caked in dust and officials barringnonessential workers from the area, opening wasn't an option until the next Monday.
Today, the exchange is part of publicly traded, for-profit NYSE Euronext, most transactions take place electronically, and buildings outside New York can seamlessly handle trading in an emergency. The transformation wasn't wholly driven by Sept. 11, but it is part of the many changes that have reshaped Wall Street.
The NYSE has become much less dependent on its trading floor, yet has taken on a bigger profile globally with its 2006 acquisition of electronic trader Archipelago and a pending deal to combine with Deutsche Borse AG. 'Wall Street today is much more a state of mind than a physical location,' said Roy Smith, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business.
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, observers predicted New York's financial elite would flee from the perceived security risks of the southern tip of Manhattan and perhaps shrink as well. A decade later, the Street is indeed smaller and more far-flung. New York City securities industry employment has dropped to 168,000 jobs from more than 190,000, according to New York state data. The collapse of the twin towers accelerated the big firms' exodus from Lower Manhattan. Morgan Stanley, the biggest World Trade Center tenant, had already moved its headquarters to midtown and moved some other operations outside the city to make itself less vulnerable to disruption.
Wall Street is far from deserted. The NYSE, Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. are among those that retain major presences on the Street itself. A half dozen blocks across Lower Manhattan, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has opened a new headquarters building, just a stroll north of a financial-industry giant that never left -- American Express Co.
As the rise of computerized trading cut down on lucrative commissions, major firms turned to other areas, such as fixed income -- including, during the economic boom of the middle of the decade, the sale of securities backed by home loans.
While that business boosted Wall Street profits from 2005-07 and made countless traders rich, it also helped pave the way for the financial crisis of 2008.
With investors fleeing from risk, venerable firms such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers -- which had been a tenant at the trade center and adjacent World Financial Center before it relocated to midtown after the attacks -- succumbed when they weren't able to secure funding. The bankruptcy of Lehman three years ago this month forced governments to offer guarantees worth trillions of dollars to support banking systems and financial markets, setting the stage for today's nervous markets and fragile economic recovery.
Some say concern about the sector is overdone. Yet it isn't known when banks' outlook will clear. 'As bad as 9/11 was, it was not as bad for the financial world as the boom and bust that followed,' Mr. Smith said.
Suzanne Kapner / Randall Smith / Aaron Lucchetti
本文涉及股票或公司
The NYSE was a not-for-profit company that in one way had changed little since 1792: Thousands of traders shouted orders to buy or sell. With Lower Manhattan caked in dust and officials barringnonessential workers from the area, opening wasn't an option until the next Monday.
Today, the exchange is part of publicly traded, for-profit NYSE Euronext, most transactions take place electronically, and buildings outside New York can seamlessly handle trading in an emergency. The transformation wasn't wholly driven by Sept. 11, but it is part of the many changes that have reshaped Wall Street.
The NYSE has become much less dependent on its trading floor, yet has taken on a bigger profile globally with its 2006 acquisition of electronic trader Archipelago and a pending deal to combine with Deutsche Borse AG. 'Wall Street today is much more a state of mind than a physical location,' said Roy Smith, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business.
In the aftermath of Sept. 11, observers predicted New York's financial elite would flee from the perceived security risks of the southern tip of Manhattan and perhaps shrink as well. A decade later, the Street is indeed smaller and more far-flung. New York City securities industry employment has dropped to 168,000 jobs from more than 190,000, according to New York state data. The collapse of the twin towers accelerated the big firms' exodus from Lower Manhattan. Morgan Stanley, the biggest World Trade Center tenant, had already moved its headquarters to midtown and moved some other operations outside the city to make itself less vulnerable to disruption.
Wall Street is far from deserted. The NYSE, Deutsche Bank AG and Bank of New York Mellon Corp. are among those that retain major presences on the Street itself. A half dozen blocks across Lower Manhattan, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has opened a new headquarters building, just a stroll north of a financial-industry giant that never left -- American Express Co.
As the rise of computerized trading cut down on lucrative commissions, major firms turned to other areas, such as fixed income -- including, during the economic boom of the middle of the decade, the sale of securities backed by home loans.
While that business boosted Wall Street profits from 2005-07 and made countless traders rich, it also helped pave the way for the financial crisis of 2008.
With investors fleeing from risk, venerable firms such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers -- which had been a tenant at the trade center and adjacent World Financial Center before it relocated to midtown after the attacks -- succumbed when they weren't able to secure funding. The bankruptcy of Lehman three years ago this month forced governments to offer guarantees worth trillions of dollars to support banking systems and financial markets, setting the stage for today's nervous markets and fragile economic recovery.
Some say concern about the sector is overdone. Yet it isn't known when banks' outlook will clear. 'As bad as 9/11 was, it was not as bad for the financial world as the boom and bust that followed,' Mr. Smith said.
Suzanne Kapner / Randall Smith / Aaron Lucchetti
本文涉及股票或公司
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