BY MIKE FUHRMAN
Throughout his career, William Morgan has helped his clients invest in the stock market from his office in Statesville.
Earlier this month the owner and CEO of Capital Management Group of the Carolinas Inc. got to experience a first in his 41 years as a financial investment manager and advisor. He was part of a small group that participated in the closing bell ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange.
The former Statesville councilman and recent mayoral candidate was invited to participate by representatives of the Gabelli Co., which was celebrating the debut of three new exchange-traded funds on the NYSE.
Morgan flew to New York on the morning of January 6, attended a reception at 3 p.m. and got to witness the trading in real time. Trillions of dollars move through the stock market in a single day, including passive investments in IRA accounts, 401(k) accounts and mutual funds.
“It all happens in a building the size of a Publix,” Morgan said.
At 3:59:30 each afternoon, with participants in the closing ceremony gathered above the trading floor, the closing bell starts ringing.
“It rings for 30 seconds,” Morgan said. “It’s pretty deafening — it’s like a firehouse bell.”
It was Morgan’s second visit to the NYSE, and the experience was dramatically different this time around.
Twenty-five years ago the floor was packed with traders in colorful jackets, with each color signifying a different brokerage firm, and runners literally running to get their trades in.
Today, with electronic trading now dominant, it was a more casual experience on the floor.
“I was shocked,” Morgan said. “I bet there weren’t 20 percent of the people” on the trading floor.
The S&P 500 and DOW both closed at an all-time high the following day.
“I take full credit for that one,” Morgan joked.
In addition to a photo from the iconic platform where the bell is rung, Morgan brought home a commemorative coin featuring a buttonwood tree on the site where the exchange was established on May 17, 1792.
“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “It was definitely a bucket-list item.”