California's Pacific Stock Exchange (PSE), the largest securities market in the US outside New York City and the 3rd-largest stock options marketplace in the world, is an association of some 500 member brokers who provide an auction market for the stocks, options, and bonds of national and local corporations. The exchange, which the only one in America to operate two trading floors (in Los Angeles and San Francisco), traces its roots to the San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange formed in 1882. In 1957, the Los Angeles Oil Exchange merged with the Pacific Stock Exchange. Between 1957 and 1983, the volume of shares traded increased 30-fold, to more than one billion. Nearly 2,500 stocks, bonds, and other securities, and options on 800 underlying stocks and indexes, are traded on the PSE. Because of the time difference between the east and west coasts, the PSE begins trading at 6:30 AM PST and stays open until 1:30 PM PST, a half hour after the New York exchanges have closed.
There are 7,017 securities dealers' operations in California (the largest number of all states), with a total of 74,536 employees. Over 1,582 investment advisory organizations operate in the state. California is home to 939 NASDAQ company headquarters, 52 NASDAQ market makers, 107 AMEX corporation headquarters (16.5% of the nation's total), and 82 NYSE California-incorporated companies. The top ten NYSE companies in order of revenue size are: Hewlett-Packard, The Walt Disney Co., PG&E Corp., Caterpillar, The Gap, Tenet Healthcare Corp., Edison International, Northrop Grumman Corp., Solectron Corp., and Seagate Technology.