Market Performance Committee

When Elmer first started working at the New York Stock Exchange and heard that there was a Market Performance Committee, he got really excited. “Sweet,” he said, “now I can bring my love of interpretive dance to the exchange floor.”

Buuut as it turns out, those aren’t the kind of performances the Market Performance Committee, or MPC, oversees. No, they’re more interested in order and efficiency, and in making sure that trading specialists do their thing in a manner that promotes both.

They’re less concerned with the performance of stocks than they are with the performance of stock traders. Are they observing protocol? Are they working quickly and efficiently? Stuff like that.

They also keep their eyes peeled for rising talent, not of the jazz hands variety, but of the future stock specialist variety. It’s maybe not quite what Elmer had in mind, but the MPC does play a vital role in making sure the NYSE show goes on…in an orderly and efficient way.