The Financial District, located in Downtown Manhattan, is where you can see some of the most important banks and financial buildings of the world. During the daytime, the Financial District is incredibly busy with brokers, bankers, traders and other financial experts running to and from, talking on cell phones and looking awfully busy.
The Financial District is one of the oldest parts of Manhattan, so you can see lots of buildings with Gothic revival architecture. Some of the most important buildings located in the Financial District include:
- Chamber of Commerce
- Trinity Church
- New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
- Federal Hall
- Bank of New York
- US Custom House
At the heart of the Financial District is Wall Street. Located on the Financial District (From Broadway to South Street), Wall Street is home to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Morgan Guaranty Trust Building, the Federal Hall National Memorial and many other buildings, Wall Street is worth a walk to look around even though Wall Street is known mainly for its various banks and financial institutions.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), located at 11 Wall Street, is the largest stock exchange in the world. Its global capitalization is roughly 20 trillion dollars. The opening bell at the NYSE is at 9:30am and the closing bell is at 4:00pm. The bell is usually rung by visiting heads of states, government officials or top executives from visiting companies. Every day at 4:00pm, the closing bell is rung to signal the end of trading for the day. If it was a good day for trading then a cheer goes up, if it was a bad day, there are groans. The New York Stock Exchange is not open to visitors.
The Federal Reserve Bank of NY is also located in the financial district. The bank contains a gold vault located 80 feet beneath Wall Street. This gold deposit is the largest in the world, even larger than Fort Knox.
Until September 11, 2001, the Financial District used to be the home of the World Trade Center. Now it is the home of Ground Zero. Wall Street runs across the financial district.
