Jun 30, 2008 11:08 pm US/Central
Good Question: Who Rings the Stock Exchange Bell?
(WCCO)
For more than 100 years, the sound of a brass bell ringing has started and stopped trading on the New York Stock Exchange. It's so valuable to the NYSE, the organization has attached a service mark to the terms "The Opening Bell" and "The Closing Bell."
But who are those people ringing the bell? And why are they always clapping?
"They seem awfully happy all the time, regardless of the day," said one businessman in downtown Minneapolis.
First of all, according to the New York Stock Exchange, the sound we hear actually comes from four different brass bells scattered around the trading floor. But before 1903, the closing bell was a closing Chinese gong.
The exchange describes ringing the opening and closing bell as "an honor" and reports that typically the bell ringers are business big-wigs, like CEOs of companies with stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
There is fierce interest and competition to have that moment and ring that bell. Edina-based Regis Corporation had to reserve their closing bell moment a year in advance.
To celebrate five years of being traded on the NYSE, Regis rang the closing bell and slammed the gavel on March 27, 2008, the same day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 120 points. The smiles were still huge, the applause was still thunderous.
Foreign dignitaries ask to ring the bell and celebrities get invited. Members of the U.S. Olympic Wrestling and Rowing teams looked overjoyed when they closed trading on June 20, 2008, when the Dow dropped 220.
UCLA basketball star Kevin Love rang the opening bell on NBA draft day, hours before he became one of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
According to the NYSE, it doesn't cost companies anything to ring the bell but the publicity is priceless. The opener rings at 8:30 a.m., Central Time, the closing bell is sounded at 3 p.m. The special guest have only been ringing the bell since 1995, according to Investopedia.
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