DALLAS — A new stock exchange based in this city is positioning itself as a direct challenger to the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, part of a broader push to make Texas a major hub of American finance.
The Texas Stock Exchange plans to give companies another venue to list shares and raise capital. Backers of the project say it could help cement the state’s growing reputation as a financial center, one some have started calling “Y’all Street.”
Former Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, a strategic advisor and member of the Texas Stock Exchange, says the shift toward Texas is already happening.
“Texas is really becoming the economic center of gravity in America,” Hensarling told Fox News Digital in an interview at the exchange’s headquarters.
“As New York is increasingly shoving capital out, Texas is saying, ‘You’re welcome here,'” he said. “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.”
Hensarling credits years of business-friendly policy for the shift, arguing Texas has moved beyond being simply a cheap place to operate.
“Texas has been a great place to do business for decades, but increasingly it’s a great place to headquarter your business,” he said. “Over the last couple of legislative sessions, because of laws passed, it’s a great place to incorporate your business.”
“The last piece of that puzzle was the Texas Stock Exchange,” Hensarling said. “It’s now making Texas the best place to list your company and to go public.”
The exchange arrives amid a broader wave of corporate relocation and investment into Texas. Major companies have shifted their headquarters to the state in recent years, and financial firms including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Charles Schwab and Bank of America have expanded their Texas footprints.
Supporters frame this as part of a larger pattern: businesses and capital moving away from high-tax, heavily regulated states toward places like Texas that offer lower taxes and lighter regulatory burdens.
Critics counter that New York still dwarfs Texas as a financial center, home to the world’s largest stock exchange, the bulk of major investment banks, and far deeper capital markets than any rival could quickly match.
Whether “Y’all Street” can genuinely challenge Wall Street’s dominance remains an open question. But between the new exchange, the influx of corporate headquarters, and expanding operations from the nation’s largest financial firms, Texas is making its most serious attempt yet to pull financial power away from New York.
“Texas is really becoming the economic center of gravity in America,” Hensarling said.
