NYSE Going to Next Phase of Decimal-Pricing Pilot
Beginning Monday, the New York Stock Exchange will add the 57 securities listed below to its decimal-pricing pilot program, which marks the beginning of the end of fractional pricing of U.S. stocks. The pilot program began Aug. 28 with seven stocks, including Gateway Inc. (ticker symbolGTW), FedEx Corp. (FDX) and Hughes Supply (HUG). Starting Monday, investors looking to buy or sell the securities listed below will no longer have to enter prices in minimum fractions of 1/16th of a dollar (6.25 cents). Instead, these securities will trade in minimum increments of one penny. The move to simple decimal pricing in the first phase of the NYSE program has already been shown to have narrowed the spread between “bid” and “asked” prices of those stocks. That’s good for investors, of course. Still, decimal pricing also brings certain risks, including that professional traders may find it easier to “step ahead” of individual investors’ orders in a fast-moving market by offering to buy for a mere penny more, or to sell for a penny less. The NYSE expects to trade all stocks in decimals by April 1, 2001. Nasdaq also expects to move to decimals in 2001.
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Security Ticker symbol Adecco ADO Administaff Inc. ASF America Online Inc. AOL American Retirement Corp. ACR Apex Mortgage Capital Inc. AXM Cigna Corp. CI Colgate-Palmolive Co. CL Colonial Investment-Grade Municipal Trust CXH Community Bank System Inc. CBU Compaq Computer Corp. CPQ DaimlerBenz 5.75% Conv. 02 DAJ DaimlerChrysler DCX Donnelly Corp. DON Duff & Phelps Utilities Tax-Free Income Inc. DTF Enel Societa Per Azioni EN Factset Research Systems Inc. FDS Franklin Resources Inc. BEN General Motors Corp. Class H GMH Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. GT Groupe Danone DA Harcourt General Inc. H Harcourt General Inc. CM CV-A H-PRA Harman International Ind. Inc. HAR High Yield Plus Fund Inc. HYP HSBC Holdings HBC Iomega Corp. IOM Kemper Strategic Municipal Income Trust KSM Korea Fund KF Lands’ End Inc. LE Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT Lone Star Technologies Inc. LSS Martin Marietta Materials Inc. MLM McMoran Exploration Co. MMR Morrison Management Specialists Inc. MHI Morgan Stanley Dean Witter S&P; 500 ELKS ’03 BGS M&T; Bank Corp. MTB Newhall Land & Farming Co. NHL NS Group Inc. NSS Pulitzer Inc. PTZ Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. RCL Sears Roebuck & Co. S Sears Roebuck Accept. Corp. NTS 7.00% SRF Sears Roebuck Accept. Corp. NTS 6.95% SRH Shandong Huaneng Power Development SH State Street Corp. STT Stone Container $1.75 Cum. Conv. STO-PRE Stone Energy Corp. SGY Tejon Ranch Co. TRC Tribune Exc SB DB (Phones) 29 TXA Time Warner Inc. TWX Time Warner Cap 18 7/8% TR Pref. D TWX-PRT Toyota Motor Corp. TM TransAmerica Income Shares TAI UBS UBS Valspar Corp. VAL Van Kampen Investment-Grade Municipal Trust VIG Watsco Inc. WSO
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Source: New York Stock Exchange
