This is good news, finally:
Washington, Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The Pink Sheets service plans to start displaying
online stock quotes tomorrow for its 3,600 mostly small companies, in an attempt to
give brokerages and investors better access to the prices.
The Pink Sheets, run by the private National Quotation Bureau, has printed weekly
lists of quotes for many thinly traded stocks that don't qualify for listing, or don't want
to list, on a
securities market such as the New York Stock Exchange. The move to more timely
Internet distribution could ease business for brokers that now must verify the printed
quotes by telephone.
''This may save the industry millions of dollars in telephone expenses and staffing,'' said
Anthony Broy, president of the Hill Thompson Magid & Co. brokerage in Jersey City,
New Jersey. ''It also would help make prices more sensible.''
The electronic quotes also could inject competition and liquidity to Pink Sheet trading,
which occasionally has been troubled by wide trading spreads and manipulation,
dealers said.
Among those quoted on the Pink Sheets are smaller businesses, companies that lost
listings on U.S. exchanges, and overseas companies that for some reason don't want to
meet requirements for trading on a major exchange. They include, for example, Livent
Inc., a
theater company that filed for bankruptcy protection; Boston Chicken Inc., a
restaurant chain de-listed from the Nasdaq Stock Market; and Swiss-based Nestle
SA's American depositary receipts.
The online quotes are to be posted at the www.otcquote.com Web site.
''This will create more price visibility, higher volume, and narrower trading spreads,''
National Quotation Bureau Chairman Cromwell Coulson said.
Brokerages will be charged between $50 and $150 a month to subscribe, depending
on the number of Web site users at a firm, Coulson said.
Published Quotes
The Pink Sheets' quotes have been published once a week in a 400-page book with
pink and yellow paper. These non-binding quotes are updated daily in a
one-to-three-page document that is faxed to about 700 subscribers, most of which are
wholesale brokerages.
Brokers that want to trade these stocks are required to call at least three dealers to
verify the quotes, and place still another call to order a trade. The new Internet
postings will eliminate
the regulatory requirement for dealers to verify quotes with other dealers, though they
still will have to place trades by phone.
Dealers said the online quotes will make sure firms find the best possible buying and
selling offers, since they may not identify the best available quote in just three calls.
''The Pink Sheets could become the next Nasdaq of unlisted securities,'' said Leonard
Mayer, president of Charles Schwab Corp.'s Mayer & Schweitzer Inc. unit. ''It may
well provide competition for the first time to the over-the-counter bulletin board.''
OTC Bulletin Board
The Nasdaq Stock Market's over-the-counter bulletin board offers quotes of more
small stocks, and sometimes more reputable securities, than does the Pink Sheets.
Small companies have been attracted to the bulletin board, in part, because it has until
now posted
more timely quotes that have helped create more volume.
The Pink Sheets' Internet postings, along with the elimination of the daily and weekly
documents, also will help it cope with the expected influx of thousands of companies in
the next year, Coulson said.
Nasdaq is imposing tougher new standards that are likely to drive away as many as 65
percent of the 6,700 companies now listed on its over-the-counter bulletin board,
Nasdaq spokesman Wayne Lee estimated. Of these companies, as many as 3,000
could move to the Pink Sheets, Coulson said.
The NQB expects to pay about $2 million to develop and set up its Web site, which
didn't require Securities and Exchange Commission approval, Coulson said. The
hard-copy version of the Pink Sheets will continue to be published monthly to provide
historical quotes,
he said.
Sep/14/1999 11:29
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