An institution through which company shares and government stock are traded. Originally the exchange would be a building, where traders would gather and trade proceeded either by individual negotiation or by open outcry, where prices bid and offered were announced out loud so as to inform all traders within earshot. Modern stock exchanges are institutions with traders linked by computer networks and telephones. market-maker work either on a quote-driven system, announcing bid and offer prices at which they will trade with all comers, or on an order-driven system, where buy and sell orders are brought together and matched as far as possible at regular intervals, for example daily. In either case large deals usually get special treatment. Stock exchanges have rules about the information companies have to provide for their shares to be listed, the individuals or firms allowed to trade, the notification of trades carried out, and the procedure for settlement, that is actual delivery of shares and money payments. There are stock exchanges in all major world commercial centres, for example Frankfurt, London, New York, Paris, and Tokyo.

• continuous compounding
• continuous distribution
• continuous time
• continuous variable
• contract
• contract curve
• contracted-out
• contracted-out services
• contract of employment
• contract, service
• contractual savings
• contradiction, proof by
• contribution, defined
• contributions, National Insurance
• contributory pension scheme
• control
• control of a company
• convenience, flag of
• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
• convergence
• convergence criteria
• convergent series
• convertibility
• convertible currency
• convertible debenture