A clearing house is an intermediary between buyers and sellers of financial instruments. Further, it is an agency or separate corporation of a futures exchange responsible for settling trading accounts, clearing trades, collecting and maintaining margin monies, regulating delivery, and reporting trading data.
All the world's 10 most valuable companies, including Alphabet, Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT), are based in the U.S., according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from S&P Capital IQ based on the S&P Global 1200 index. Alphabet's rise to No. 1 with a market value Tuesday of $554.8 billion is a historic moment.
Perhaps it's fitting, then, that Amazon (amzn) has since joined the top 10. In fact, Amazon had the biggest jump among the top companies on the list. A year ago, Amazon was worth $175 billion and ranked 19 among the most valuable Fortune 500 companies. Amazon's shares have dropped recently.