Twenty-five years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the article draws a portrait of the changes on Wall Street and in New York. That morning, the New York Stock Exchange did not open, having remained closed for six days. In the first week of trading, the devaluation of assets amounted to almost 1.4 trillion dollars. Sectors such as weapons manufacturers, security companies and telecommunications benefited from the war on terror climate, while airline companies and insurers suffered significant losses.
The composition of the New York Stock Exchange transformed radically. In 2001, the most valuable companies were General Electric, Microsoft, ExxonMobil, Pfizer, Walmart or Citigroup, in a diversified top 10. Today, the entire top 10 is composed of tech companies, led by Nvidia, Apple and Alphabet. The S&P 500 index took only one month to recover the pre-attack value, but sustained recovery only solidified near the end of 2003. Currently, the S&P 500 trades more than 500% above September 2001 values.
The World Trade Center area, previously dominated by offices and financial companies, underwent a profound transformation. Under the leadership of Governor George Pataki and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the Lower Manhattan Development Company was created, with initial federal funding of 10 billion dollars. The area more than tripled the number of residential units to nearly 40,000, hotels went from 6 to over 40, and the resident population more than doubled to approximately 70,000 people.
The weight of the financial sector in Lower Manhattan fell from 48.5% to 33.6% of employment, giving way to services, technology and tourism. The office vacancy rate rose from 7% in 2001 to the current 22%, a trend more linked to the pandemic and work reorganization than to the attacks or urban requalification.
