NYSE Dumps Fractions, Moves to Decimal Format

Fractions are no longer welcome on the New York Stock Exchange. Starting today, the exchange will trade all its stocks in decimals, the last step in a government-mandated move that has been planned for three years. Nearly 3,400 stocks that until now have been traded in halves, quarters, eighths and sixteenths are due to be switched when trading opens. But the switch won’t involve all U.S. stocks, at least not yet. The Nasdaq Stock Market, home to more than 4,600 companies, plans to start converting its trading to decimals in March and finish by April 9, the deadline set by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC ordered the shift on the theory it would make stock prices easier for investors to understand and potentially open stock bidding and selling to more competition. Fractions had been used to trade stocks for more than 200 years, a legacy of Spanish traders, whose currency was in increments of eighths.