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Monday, November 10, 2008
Fed Approves AmEx as Bank Holding Company
Lauren Covello
FOXBusiness
Credit card giant American Express (AXP) is the latest U.S. firm granted approval to become a bank holding company.
The move allows American Express access to the Federal Reserve’s discount window as well as the opportunity to apply for Treasury assistance if needed.
Citing the “unusual and exigent circumstances” weighing on the financial markets, the Federal Reserve Board waived the standard 30-day waiting period and announced the approval Monday.
American Express is the latest major U.S. firm to acquire bank holding status, trailing Goldman Sachs (GS) and Morgan Stanley (MS) in September.
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A specialist is a member of a stock exchange who works as an auctioneer for a specific stock and/or stocks. It can be an individual, partnership, corporation or group of firms.
The specialist works to maintain a "fair and orderly market" for respective stocks, matching up buyers and sellers by displaying the best "bid" and "ask" prices at its trading post. If buys are not equal to sells, the specialist evens the scale by buying or selling shares, accordingly. However, they cannot make their own transactions until all investor orders have been placed.
Gauging supply and demand, the specialist sets an opening price for the stocks in its domain. If a price has not been set by the time the market opens, the specialist can delay that particular stock's opening.
Specialists make money off the "spread," which is the difference between bid and ask prices on orders.
