Who makes the spread for stocks?

Hello,

who makes the bid and ask price for stocks? Is it the broker like in forex or a centralized stock exchange? Are their multiple stock exchanges, which do have different bid/ask prices, or only one institution that defines what the spread for stocks are?
I guess, what I want to know is: Does my brokers need to take a ceratin quotes(bid/ask/last-prices), or can he choose from various sources (or can he make the prices himself...)?

Thanks a lot!
-mike

Usually The spread is the amount of pips between the bidding price and the asking price.Forex broker cut a fee as commission or charge to open a trade which we called spread.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_exchange

http://www.world-stock-exchanges.net/top10.html