STANDARD & POOR'S AND AMERICAN STOCK EXCHANGE LAUNCH PILOT PROGRAM TO
PROVIDE CLOSING PRICES FOR 12 NASDAQ STOCKS
NEW YORK, October 8, 2003 - The American Stock Exchange* (Amex*) announced
today that it will be participating in a pilot program with Standard &
Poor's to provide standardized auction market closing prices for Nasdaq
securities in the S&P 500 Index, the most widely used benchmark to track
U.S. stock market performance.
The Amex, which has been trading Nasdaq stocks on the exchange floor for
over a year, will provide a single closing price for 12 well-known Nasdaq
stocks. If successful, the pilot program, which will begin Monday, December
1, 2003 and run until early 2004, could be expanded by Standard & Poor's to
include changes in index pricing procedures for closing prices for all
Nasdaq securities in the S&P 500 Index.
Salvatore F. Sodano, Amex chairman and CEO, said, "We are extremely pleased
that Standard & Poor's has selected our market as their first alternative
for pricing procedures for Nasdaq-listed stocks. We are confident that the
adoption of Amex prices will bring more transparency to the marketplace and
provide all investors with an efficient and inexpensive way to get official
opening and closing prices."
Brett Redfearn, senior vice president of Amex Business Strategy, said, "We
have been discussing this initiative with index traders and the investment
community for months and believe that this is a significant response to
widespread concerns in the marketplace. We already open and close S&P 500
stocks every day and are fully prepared to do the same for Nasdaq stocks."
Standard & Poor's and Amex initiated the pilot program in response to the
investment community's demands for more efficiency and reliability in
pricing procedures for Nasdaq securities. Because the Nasdaq stock market
does not have an auction closing process that brings together buyers and
sellers in the marketplace for one closing price, this can present
challenges for investors and traders to get a closing trade at the official
closing price. On the Amex, specialists on the Exchange guarantee opening
and closing prices to all market participants who send in "On Open" and
"Market On Close" orders under the exchange's rules.
PROVIDE CLOSING PRICES FOR 12 NASDAQ STOCKS
NEW YORK, October 8, 2003 - The American Stock Exchange* (Amex*) announced
today that it will be participating in a pilot program with Standard &
Poor's to provide standardized auction market closing prices for Nasdaq
securities in the S&P 500 Index, the most widely used benchmark to track
U.S. stock market performance.
The Amex, which has been trading Nasdaq stocks on the exchange floor for
over a year, will provide a single closing price for 12 well-known Nasdaq
stocks. If successful, the pilot program, which will begin Monday, December
1, 2003 and run until early 2004, could be expanded by Standard & Poor's to
include changes in index pricing procedures for closing prices for all
Nasdaq securities in the S&P 500 Index.
Salvatore F. Sodano, Amex chairman and CEO, said, "We are extremely pleased
that Standard & Poor's has selected our market as their first alternative
for pricing procedures for Nasdaq-listed stocks. We are confident that the
adoption of Amex prices will bring more transparency to the marketplace and
provide all investors with an efficient and inexpensive way to get official
opening and closing prices."
Brett Redfearn, senior vice president of Amex Business Strategy, said, "We
have been discussing this initiative with index traders and the investment
community for months and believe that this is a significant response to
widespread concerns in the marketplace. We already open and close S&P 500
stocks every day and are fully prepared to do the same for Nasdaq stocks."
Standard & Poor's and Amex initiated the pilot program in response to the
investment community's demands for more efficiency and reliability in
pricing procedures for Nasdaq securities. Because the Nasdaq stock market
does not have an auction closing process that brings together buyers and
sellers in the marketplace for one closing price, this can present
challenges for investors and traders to get a closing trade at the official
closing price. On the Amex, specialists on the Exchange guarantee opening
and closing prices to all market participants who send in "On Open" and
"Market On Close" orders under the exchange's rules.