Every common stock on the New York Stock Exchange — the counterpart to the Nasdaq Composite, and now a measure of the exchange that came second.
The NYSE Composite launched in 1966 covering every common stock listed on the exchange. It was substantially reconstructed in 2003 — rebased, moved to float-adjusted capitalization weighting, and narrowed to exclude closed-end funds, exchange-traded products, preferred shares and derivative instruments, leaving operating-company common stock.
Structurally it is the direct counterpart to the Nasdaq Composite: an exchange census rather than a selected benchmark. What differs is the character of the companies each exchange attracted.
The NYSE's listing requirements historically favoured larger, established companies, and its roster reflects that: banks, insurers, energy majors, industrials, consumer staples and a substantial number of foreign companies listed through depositary receipts.
The practical consequence is that the NYSE Composite behaves like an older-economy measure while the Nasdaq Composite behaves like a technology one — despite both simply counting whatever is listed.
For most of the modern era the NYSE was the world's largest exchange by listed value. In 2026 that changed: Nasdaq overtook it in domestic market capitalization for the first time, on the strength of technology and AI-related listings.
The two exchanges' composite indexes are therefore now a fairly direct reading of that shift. Which is the better broad-market measure depends on what you want to measure — and the honest answer is that neither is, because each covers one venue rather than the market.
It measures one exchange, not the market. Cross-exchange indexes such as the S&P 500 or Russell 3000 are the better broad measures.
Different companies listed on each exchange over decades. Neither index applies a sector rule.
By domestic market capitalization of listed companies, yes — in 2026, for the first time.