Introduction to the World Trade Center (WTC) and Wall Street

The heart of America’s trading district is often considered to be the World Trade Center, but Wall Street harbours the majority of the central business district’s interests.

World Trade Center

The WTC began its history as the centre of US trade when tower one was first inhabited in 1970, followed by tower two in 1972. The buildings themselves cost more than the gross domestic product of many small countries. The Port Authority built a basement worth 90 million dollars alone and the construction cost of the whole WTC site was 900 million dollars.

The buildings spanned seven complexes and were home to more than five hundred companies; some had been there since inception and most firmly entrenched in America’s financial market. Some of the initial inhabitants included the Port Authority, Morgan Stanley (who experienced the highest instances of loss of life amongst WTC businesses after the September 11 terrorist attacks), the AON Corporation and the Saloman Brothers.

After the 9/11 attacks the WTC site was cleaned up and construction began on the new seven WTC buildings, they were opened in May 2006 (the site and buildings have retained the WTC title) and the memorial tower (construction began in 2006) despite rigorous debate about what should happen to the site. The new WTC complexes span Greenwich Street in New York.

Wall Street

After 9/11 America’s financial capital remained closed for several days but was able to reopen with minimal fuss due to the fact the real financial district, Wall Street, was able to absorb the fallout.

Wall Street got back to full operation reasonably fast and the New York Stock Exchange reopened. Despite the loss of life and the political implications of 9/11 there was minimal interruption to either Wall Street or Main Street (the district that harbours America’s smaller businesses).

Some of the biggest stocks currently being traded on Wall Street are the US dollar itself, HSBC Holdings, UBS, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, American International Group, Fortis, Generali, AEGON, AXA and AIG.