Wall Street

Wall Street is a street in downtown New York City where the U.S. securities industry began. Wall Street is thus used as a synonym for various entities and aspects of the U.S. financial sector. A newspaper headline that reads "Wall Street Down on Interest Rate Hike" probably means stock prices fell on the announcement of higher rates. "Wall Street Likes Tax-Cut Plan" probably means that traders, stock analysts, investment bankers, etc. approve of the new proposals. "Wall Street Says Yea, Main Street Nay, to Tax Plan" means that the financial community - and possibly big corporations -- favor the plan, but small businesspeople in local communities are against it. On the other hand, "Wall Street Gains on Frankfurt's Woes" likely means that problems in Germany's financial industry have been good for the U.S. financial sector. Interestingly, most if not all of the major securities firms no longer have their headquarters on Wall Street, even if most still have offices in the Wall Street vicinity. Nevertheless, Wall Street remains, at least metaphorically, the center of the U.S. financial community.