Last week hardly seemed the time to launch a new stock exchangeat a moment when the whole U.S. securities market was undergoing the most searching Government investigation since the 1930s.
Nonetheless, in Lower Manhattan's cobblestoned butter-and-egg wholesaling district, the cocky little National Stock Exchange made its debut amid the clink of champagne glasses and the clang of the trading gong.
The first new U.S. stock exchange since 1934, Natex (pronounced Nay-tex) will cater to fledgling companies that cannot meet the requirements of the major exchanges. While the American Stock Exchange rarely lists...