Texas Stock Exchange Takes Aim at Wall Street as ‘Economic Center of Gravity’ Shifts South

DALLAS — As companies and capital flow away from traditional financial hubs like New York and California, Texas is making an increasingly aggressive bid to become America’s next financial powerhouse. Speaking with Fox News Digital from the Texas Stock Exchange’s Dallas headquarters, former Congressman Jeb Hensarling, a strategic advisor to the exchange, said Texas is already becoming “the economic center of gravity in America.” Hensarling framed the shift in stark terms: “As New York is increasingly shoving capital out, Texas is saying, ‘You’re welcome.’ We put out the welcome mat, whereas New York, capital isn’t really made to feel at home, and capital wants to go where it’s made to feel at home.” The Texas Stock Exchange, which received SEC approval last year, is designed to compete with the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq by giving companies another venue to go public and list their shares.

Supporters say the exchange is the latest sign the Lone Star State is evolving from a destination for corporate relocations into a financial center capable of challenging Wall Street. The exchange has already secured primary listings from companies such as Energy Transfer, Dillard’s, Sunoco, and Texas Capital Bank, and Hensarling said backing from major financial firms such as JPMorgan and BlackRock, along with executives recruited from competing exchanges, demonstrates the venture is more than a branding exercise. “They don’t put their capital in places where they think it’s going to lose money,” Hensarling said. “It’s a lot of validation from the market already.” He also dismissed criticism that “Y’all Street” is little more than a catchy slogan: “If it was gimmicky, I’m not really sure the competition would be all of a sudden setting up offices here.” Hensarling said the exchange is simply the latest chapter in Texas’ broader economic ascent, declaring, “People are coming to Texas because, again, capital is made to feel welcome. It’s an economic juggernaut… all in all, they’re coming here because this is where, economically, the action is.”