Speaker 1:
From the New York Stock Exchange at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets in New York City, welcome Inside the ICE House. Our podcast from Intercontinental Exchange is your go-to for the latest on markets, leadership, vision, and business. For over 230 years, the NYSE has been the beating heart of global growth. Each week we bring you inspiring stories of innovators, job creators, and the movers and shakers of capitalism here at the NYSE and ISIS exchanges around the world. Now let's go Inside the ICE House. Here's your host, Pete Asch.
Pete Asch:
Back in February 2018, when we launched this podcast, I drew up a list of the voices we wanted to bring to our audience from the worlds of markets, business, finance, and culture. Top of that list was Arthur D. Cashin Jr. Art Cashin was not just a fixture on the NYSE trading floor and one of the most revered minds on Wall Street, but in many ways he embodied the heartbeat of the markets. Few eyes have witnessed as much of the life of the New York Stock Exchange as those of Art. When he first purchased a seat on the exchange in 1964, the New York Stock Exchange had 1,247 companies with a total market cap of $474 billion. And the Dow Jones Industrial Average was threatening to break 1,000. At the time of his passing. On December 1st, 2024, the NYSE stock list had doubled. The market cap increased by a factor of 75, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was well north of 40,000. Referred to as Wall Street's version of Walter Cronkite and its unofficial historian, Cashin began his career in finance with Thompson McKinnon in 1959.
At the age of 23, he became a partner at PR Herzog & Company and signed the New York Stock Exchange Constitution as a newly minted member. He then dipped his toes into politics in the 1970s, mounting a bid to become mayor of his hometown of Jersey City, before returning to the exchange with PaineWebber pursuing the seat of J.H. Perry on October 23rd, 1980. By the time Cashin began managing what is today UBS floor operations in 2000, the NYSE was just six years shy of demutualizing and adopting its current hybrid market model. His sharp mind, unmatched instincts and unparalleled storytelling have earned him the respect and admiration of everyone, from the captains of industry to rookie historians. When I joined the Exchange back in 2016, I learned quickly to seek him out to answer the questions that could not be found in the papers, books, and records that make up the New York Stock Exchange archives.
And in time, to my great honor and surprise, I would occasionally receive a question from Art seeking to fill in a minor gap of exchange history, knowledge, and lore that had escaped him. Despite all that had changed around him at the exchange during his tenure, you could always count on Art's wit and insight shared on both the New York Stock Exchange training floor or over drinks at the Stock Exchange Luncheon Club or Bobby Van's Steakhouse, as well as his ability to lead the trading floor every Christmas and singing Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie. We never did sit down to record that podcast because that would've made the story about him, not the markets or the exchange. So in this episode, we'll hear from Art Cashin's friends, colleagues, and peers who walked the trading floor with him. Through their voices, we'll uncover the moments that define Art's career, the lessons he taught without ever giving a lecture, and the indelible mark he left on the culture of Wall Street and beyond.
Jay Woods:
Hi, I am Jay Woods, Chief Global Strategist of Freedom Capital Markets, 32-year floor veteran, former Executive Floor Governor here at the New York Stock Exchange. And it's an honor for me to sit down and get to reflect on the life of Mr. Cashin. The New York Stock Exchange lost an icon down here in December with the passing of Mr. Cashin. He embodied what the floor was all about. His morning newsletter was must-read material. We would walk in the building and every trader, every floor clerk, every floor staff member would grab that mimeograph piece of paper with Cashin's comments. And what he said was very simple, but he told a great story.
He put market terms into relative terms, relatable terms. And he's been a huge influence on me, whether he knew it or not, as I pivot into a career where I get to talk to the media. And the way he can just take a big approach on something very complex and make it simple to an audience was something that, to the CNBC viewer that got to know him over time, was invaluable. As a member of the floor community, he was our North star.
When something was going wrong, when there was a market situation we were unaware of, when there was a little panic, he was the person that would be the calm in the storm, that beacon of light. I didn't really ever bother Mr. Cashin. He was someone that I looked up to and I listened. I didn't bother him with any trading strategies or any problems of mine, but when I wanted to go and listen, you could listen on the floor, but the best place to listen was across the street at the bar. It may not paint him in a good light, but he liked to marinate some ice cubes across the street, couple drinks, and he would take on an audience and he would tell stories and he would put things in perspective when he was going through the ranks. As an Executive Floor Governor, I was blessed to get that title in 2017.
He was the first person to congratulate me. It was a role that he held when it was a much more important role, and there were 5,000 animals on this floor as he so dearly called them. And to me, to get his blessing and to know he was there for me was unbelievable. One story people don't know about Mr. Cash, and I started here in 1992. Never once in my trading career did he come into my crowd to execute an order of stock, a share of stock. In fact, from 1992 on when we both worked out in the blue room back in the day, he never went into a crowd. He wasn't trading. He led, he gave guidance, but the old timers would tell me, "Kid, you never wanted to see him trade. He couldn't do it." But that's a story for some of the old timers.
And I'd love to hear exactly what Mr. Cashin was like in a crowd, but when it came to leadership, there was no one more special to this place. He represented us with class. He told those stories that would just make you stop and soak it all in and give you a perspective of the bigger picture. Yes, we had some rough days. He was here during the Dot Com bubble, and I remember people complaining that, "Stocks just don't stop going up. And these euphoric times, enjoy them while they were here." During the financial crisis, things that a lot of people down here couldn't relate to. He was a historian of the market. He could tell stories about the Great Depression. During COVID is when we lost him, and that's what inspired me to really study markets. After COVID in February of 2020, he got in an accident, he broke his hip, he didn't come back.
He came back when? For those joyous occasions to lead us in singing Nellie. It was very somber this year, but a lot of veterans came back and they came back because of him, to keep that tradition alive. To see his sons come back and honor him was unbelievable. To hear some of the testimonials during his funeral, during the services honoring him to be part of this podcast, it's very special knowing that someone like myself can keep his legacy alive, keep telling those stories, teach people that haven't been here for 32 years like myself, and learn from someone, a savvy veteran like Mr. Cashin, who loved this place, loved this building, and hopefully I can pay it forward like he did and honor his memory. He's a legacy to this building. I'm glad we took the time to honor him, and I am just very glad that I get to sing his praises on this podcast. So thank you for having me. And here's a toast to Mr. Cashin. Let's marinate some ice cubes and just tell stories.
Bob Pisani:
I'm Bob Pisani, Senior Markets Correspondent for CNBC. I first met Art in 1997. When I got down here, there were 4,000 people on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, and most of them did not like TV reporters. They didn't trust them. And there were two people who stepped up for me. Jimmy Maguire was a specialist at Henderson Brothers and was Warren Buffett's Specialist, and Art Cashin. And the two of them essentially said, "You can trust this guy Pisani. He's all right. He's not going to betray you or reveal your secrets on air, and he's trustworthy." And Art Cashin's friendship made a real difference because Art was a very powerful person on the floor. And when Art started saying, "You can trust this guy Pisani," it made a huge difference to me. So he impacted my career tremendously. The first thing that we spent a lot of time doing was talking about the markets.
There's something you learn about Art very quickly. He is not an academic, but he is one of the great students of the stock market. He's a raconteur, he's a teller of stories. He is not disdainful of the academic community, but he's not an academic and doesn't think like them. Instead, he uses stories to illustrate lessons on the stock market. He was very fond of telling stories about people who had overreacted, sold stocks or bought stocks too quickly. And he was a great believer in thinking through what you really wanted to do and what you wanted do accomplish. And he told stories around that. One of the great things was going out and drinking with Art Cashin. Going out for an evening with Art. Cashin was like an evening in Mad Men in 1962. You would invariably start with several drinks. Art drank Dewar's almost exclusively.
I usually drank bourbon with him, but Art was what I call a slow drinker, and those are the most dangerous types. There are people you go out with on Wall Street who are fast drinkers, they'll order a couple of double vodkas on the rocks and drink them very quickly. Art was not like that. Art was a slow drinker. He would sit there, suddenly, you're two hours into it, and though he's on his fourth or fifth Dewar's on the rocks. And oftentimes he'd then after a couple hours order what he called Irish caviar, which was pigs in a blanket. Maybe he'd order a hamburger. There were nights we never got to any of the food because after two hours I'd say, "All right, I got to go," and he'd say, "All right, well, have something to eat before you go." And I tried to, and I'd go home and I'd wake up next morning, and there it was in my inbox Cashin's comments.
For over 40 years he wrote a newsletter that was initially distributed internally and then widely distributed on Wall Street about Art's observations on the stock market. And it invariably started with some kind of little historical note. So he would say, "On this date in 1918, the worldwide flu epidemic went into high gear in the United States." And then he would somehow find a way to tell us a little bit about the flu epidemic and then come back to the stock market by saying, "Well, in the pre-opening Wednesday morning, it looked like the market really had a flu." And we'd go into that. And he did that for 40 years. And the folksy way he did it just attracted a lot of people because it was very, very easy to understand. One of the things that was amazing about Art was how forward-thinking he was on the stock market and yet ridiculously old-fashioned going out, as I said, to drink with him was a real interesting exercise.
First off, never used credit cards. I don't think he owned a credit card. He always had a wad of bills in his hands and he'd pay it in cash. I'd say, "Art, why are you doing this? You could have a credit card." He said, "If you have a credit card, people know how much you're spending and they know what you're drinking." And this bothered him somehow. He never used a computer. He dictated. He wrote out his Cashin comments every night and then called and dictated it to his secretary. And that's how it was published. He never had a modern cell phone. He used to have an old flip phone, battered, beaten up flip phone that he never even bothered to answer most of the time. So he had these trappings around him that were very old-fashioned, and yet he was very forward-thinking in the way he looked at the stock market.
He lived in the same house for decades and decades in Jersey City. He hated traveling. In later years, UBS, when he became quite famous, wanted to send him around to talk to clients all over the United States. Hated it, never wanted to do it. Hardly ever got in an airplane his whole life. As I said, never really traveled. For its honeymoon, he went to Cape May, New Jersey from Jersey City, where he lived, Cape May, New Jersey. So he was a guy who just was charming in his attachment to his old ways, but constantly kept telling people to understand your biases, reflect carefully before you do anything. And after a while sitting next to him for all these years, it really sort of became a part of me. And I wrote a book a few years ago, Shut Up and Keep Talking, about my experiences on the floor. And the only guy I devoted a whole chapter to and how he influenced me was Art Cashin.
James Rutledge:
So I'm James Rutledge, member of the New York Stock Exchange for 40 years, currently on the board of directors of the New York Stock Exchange and my relationship with Arthur Cashin, which dates back to 1968 when I first became a New York Stock Exchange employee, and Mr. Cashin was a member of the Exchange. We both were 23 years old when we became members. Arthur was a little bit my senior, and so Arthur took me under his wing when I was a kid, if you will. And that was my first introduction to the heartbeat of the New York Stock Exchange, Mr. Cashin. Over the years, Mr. Cashin was a guiding light as to how best to lead within the institution, how to try to care for our community, as well as the outside world. Every time there was an issue around the world, the New York Stock Exchange, and at that time we were four or 5,000 people on the trading floor, Arthur was in the lead of how we can do something to help.
Arthur was such a wordsmith, if you will. He became by default, the leader of every party we had and every serious note we had. He did eulogies. When members retired, he usually did all the speaking at the parties. Additionally, he ran what we call the Buttonwood Club, which was when you were a member of the Exchange for 25 years or more, you were elected into the Buttonwood Club, and Arthur was the senior. He was the driving force behind the Buttonwood Club, which still exists. However, the criteria for becoming a member of has been lowered because we have a lot less members. Over the years, Arthur was also the founder of various funds within the Exchange, the Exchange Dinner and Christmas Fund, various other things that we did on the holidays where we were very generous as an institution, and Arthur was our eyes and ears on where to go.
He was also the leader in helping the floor, the trading floor. Whenever somebody was ill, they came to Arthur, and Arthur knew a doctor somewhere in New York City, no matter what you had wrong. And if he didn't know the doctor, he knew somebody on the floor that had an experience, and went to them. He was the quarterback. Well, Arthur and I socialized in virtually every saloon within a two-mile square area around this Exchange, as well as we occasionally grazed uptown as well. We drank gallons of Dewar's over the course of 50 something years, and everybody talks about him marinating ice cubes. Yes, I marinated a lot of ice cubes.
I belong to a couple of organizations, the National Organization of Investment Professionals for the last 30, 40 years, as does David Chiles. We had Arthur come in as a guest speaker. He could talk about the technical part of the market. He could talk about the overall global market. He also could roll into that light and lively, make jokes about the marketplace. And that appeal to a lot of people around the world. I remember being in Europe once, and I went into a Payne Weber office and they said, "Do you know Arthur Cashin?" I said, "Yes, watch this." And I picked up the phone and I called him and I said, "Arthur, do me a favor and wave to me." So across the ocean, he's waving to me. And that was always something that we both enjoyed. I think the most important part of Arthur was his generosity and caring for people.
My mother is 107 years old, and up until this year, every year he would call. He wouldn't call my mother, but he would call me wherever I was and say, "Please wish your mother a happy birthday." And that's the kind of person he was. And not just me, he did that. He cared so much for everyone. As I said, when I came out in 1973 as a broker, the first one to take me under their wing was Arthur. Because we were two of the youngest members in history, everybody else was... And being one of the youngest and Arthur being one of the youngest, we also didn't have a lot of numbers after our name. I started as an employee here. Arthur, I believe did it as well. And so he showed me the ropes, and from that time on, he never stopped showing me the ropes.
Neil Catania:
I'm Neil Catania, Managing Director of floor operations for TJM Investments. Been on the floor for 43 years, known Arthur Cashin for probably 38 of those years. A couple of funny little stories with Arthur, as serious of a man as he was. He still had a kind of goofy side, which he let a few people in on. So on the early days of CNBC, it was around the same time that I was a broker for Salomon Brothers, I was a young broker for Salomon Brothers. And Arthur was in the blue room, and I was in the blue room. And Arthur every week would come over with a piece of paper and have me read it and say, "Well, what do you think of that?" And I would explain what I thought he was trying to say. So after about two months of this, I said, "Art, what are you giving me this for?"
He goes, "Well, there's a lot of mom and pop traders on CNBC. They stay home. They're probably not as educated on the markets." I said, "Are you dumbing this down for them?" He goes, "Yep, that's exactly what I'm doing." Please take it as a compliment, but he said that Arthur was a member of Mensa and I clearly wasn't, so he wanted to make sure that the general masses were going to understand what he was saying. So basically he used me to dumb things down for him. So I guess I have to take that as a compliment. But the funny thing with CNBC and Arthur, whenever the markets were rocky or if there was turmoil globally, ironically, they would always call Arthur Cashin to come in, and he would get on TV and probably keep a lot of people in their seats and calm the waters down because he would look at things very pragmatically.
And you have to remember, a very bright man who not only was a governor and a director at the Exchange, he actually traded in those stocks, in those crowds. And so he understood from early on what the markets mean to the general public. And he embraced letting the walls get open at Wall Street for the general public while a lot of people wanted to protect it and keep it closed. But Arthur leaned into it, and he was a great leader for this floor. Wrote probably 80% of rules in the trade in the rule book. He's been on every committee that you can think of. He ran them. He would put together really, really eclectic groups that worked well.
He saw people for not who they were or not what title they held, but what they brought to the business. And he was a very collaborative guy and he was great for the building and a great ambassador for everybody. And he was a guiding star. I had stage four melanoma. I called him up from the parking lot or the doctor. He told me to get my affairs in order, and he got me into Sloan to get the number one skin cancer doctor on the globe, basically, this guy Dan Coyt, back 15, 20 years ago. I made the call, he got me right in. And so I have a lot to thank Arthur for.
Pete Asch:
A heartfelt thank you to Jay Woods, Bob Pisani, Jim Rutledge and Neil Catania for joining us Inside the ICE House to share their memories about art and the profound impact he had on them and the markets. Art earned the respect and admiration of everyone at the New York Stock Exchange, leading behind a legacy that will continue to shape the institution for years to come.
Speaker 1:
That's our conversation for this week. Remember to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen and follow us on X at ICE House Podcast. From the New York Stock Exchange, we'll talk to you again next week, Inside the ICE House. Information contained in this podcast was obtained in part from publicly available sources and not independently verified. Neither ICE nor its affiliates make any representations or warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information, and do not sponsor, approve or endorse any of the content herein, all of which is presented solely for informational and educational purposes. Nothing herein constitutes an offer to sell a solicitation of an offer to buy any security or a recommendation of any security or trading practice. Some portions of the preceding conversation may have been edited for the purpose of length or clarity.
