NYSE chief on stocks: 'Amazing' what's happened since Trump's election

U.S. stocks are at record highs, with a largely positive third-quarter earnings season driving the major indices in recent weeks, yet the number of domestic public companies listed in the U.S. has declined 50% in the past 20 years.

Tom Farley, the president of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), tells FOX Business that although the IPO market is currently “booming in the U.S.,” the regulatory environment is too tight for U.S. companies.

The U.S. Treasury recently released details of a new plan to deregulate the financial system with ambitions of making it easier for IPO applicants – stated as “emerging growth companies” – to go public.

“What that emerging growth market category does is it just requires less regulation for small companies,” Farley told Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings with Maria.”

“Regulation is like taxes. No regulation is not the answer and complete government control isn’t the answer. Somewhere in between is the right answer and the pendulum is going to swing. We have swung too far towards heavily regulating small companies and we need to swing it back aggressively to make sure that that IPO engine is there for those young entrepreneurs,” he said.

The market has gained $5.3 trillion in value since Election Day, and while there are risks of a pullback, Farley is still “bullish” and said traders are too, “without question.”

“I walk onto the floor and I look up at the indices every morning and it’s amazing what’s happened since November. [The Dow Jones Industrial Average] was 17,400 if you remember because the indices really cratered and now they zipped back up,” he said, noting that global stocks have also hit all-time highs.