What is the asking price in the public market? I've never seen that before but I'm relatively new....

People have standing orders set for that price. They may want 1K they may want 1M . But they will automatically buy that unit for that price if you sell it for said price.

http://wiki.earthempires.com/index.php/Standing_Order

If you want to sell goods, it gives you a good frame of reference on what price you can sell at to guarantee your goods will move.

not always the case, some people will put an SO close to their selling price to make it look like a good price but really its only 1 unit.