This Week on The Floor

Jen and Kristen here! We consistently get asked to share books, TV, and movie recommendations for people interested in breaking into the industry.

We’ve reviewed several of these, including quite possibly our favorite episode of all time reviewing HBO Max’s The Industry just released today!

We’re giving you a comprehensive list in today’s newsletter of all the texts we recommend reading, watching, and listening to so you can get up to speed.

And don’t forget to join the WAITLIST for our course launching THIS MONTH here!!

• The definitive finance read/watch list.

• Grieving on the anniversary of 9/11.

• Coming up on the economic calendar: global central bank rate decisions from ECB, BoE, BoJ, and The Fed!

Markets Recap / Deal News

Interviewing this week? Here’s some content for your conversation.

Today is the 23rd anniversary of 9/11…

Many young candidates applying for Wall Street jobs today were too young to remember September 11th, 2001.

But we remember exactly where we were that morning…it started as a regular school day at the beginning of our Senior year in High School.

Despite having deep family connections to NYC and living in Boston (where two of the flights originated), we were fortunate enough not to have anyone in our families directly impacted that day.

When we started our careers in NYC 5 and 6 years later, we suddenly became part of a community that was deeply affected by 9/11’s legacy.

When I started my career at Lehman Brothers, I learned the tragic story of how we ended up at the offices at 745 7th Avenue.

The then-new construction building was originally intended for Morgan Stanley’s new global headquarters, an upgrade from the aging 1585 Broadway location just across the street.

Lehman’s global headquarters before 9/11 had been at 3 World Financial Center. When the towers collapsed, debris - I was told specifically the disused helipad from the roof of the South tower - crushed the building below, forcing all 6,500 employees there to permanently relocate.

They immediately set up a makeshift trading floor in Jersey City. They used cell phones (back then, rudimentary flip phones at best) with client phone numbers they’d memorized, graph paper, and financial calculators to conduct business without proper computer connectivity.

Ultimately, Lehman moved its headquarters into the brand new Times Square building originally intended for Morgan Stanley and got back to business.

Five years later, Jersey City was my entry point into the firm. That’s where training sessions were held, right next to the Jersey City memorial.

And the stories of that day were among the first I was told to help understand the culture of not only the firm I’d joined, but also of the Wall Street community in general.

Nearly everyone I met on the trading floor or amongst my clients lost a friend or a family member at firms like Cantor Fitzgerald, located on the 101st-105th floors of 1 World Trade Center, where 658 employees died that day.

Every year, there is a moment of silence across the street in honor and recognition of the 2,977 innocent lives that were lost that day and the ongoing suffering that first responders and families still face.

And when you join the Wall Street community anywhere in the world, but especially in NYC, this becomes part of your cultural heritage too.

Here are two ways to support families impacted by 9/11:

This Week in the Markets

If you’re interviewing for a job in any kind of markets-facing or investing-based role, it helps to have a handle on economic data releases.

We will be rolling out a training program helping you learn to read the financial news, starting later this month!

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