In an interview with Axios on HBO, Stacey Cunningham, president of the New York Stock Exchange, rejected comparisons between stock market investments and gambling.
Between the lines: Sen. Elizabeth recently said ‘investors large and small are treating the stock market like a casino’ in response to the situation with GameStop, Reddit and Robinhood last month. Cunningham says Warren is wrong.
How Cunningham replied:
“The markets are not a casino. They are strongly regulated and highly monitored … We run a market that gives investors the opportunity to enter, invest in the companies they believe in, and they believe that they are going to grow, and then share in that wealth creation … What made this country so wonderful is that a dreamer, an entrepreneur with an idea, can start the business and make it grow by get others to invest and share in their success. ‘
Cunningham also says NYSE officials were not asked to testify during the upcoming House or Senate hearings on the volatility of the past month, although GameStop, AMC and several other “meme shares” are trading on the NYSE.
On the issues: Cunningham is strongly opposed to a tax on financial transactions driven as a way to even improve the investor field, and even threatens to pull NYSE out of New York if there is such a tax at the state level.
- However, she believes regulators need to take a fresh look at greater transparency over short positions held by hedge funds.