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Non-Tech : E*Trade (NYSE:ET) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Spytrdr who wrote (9812)	12/9/1999 12:04:00 PM
From: Curtis E. Bemis	Respond to of 13953

NYSE Rule 390--Is this the end of Maria yelling from NYSE floor ?? (I hope so) SEC: Investors Paying Market Fees Associated Press Online - December 09, 1999 00:12 By MARCY GORDON AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal regulators have opened a public debate on the millions of dollars in fees that the stock exchanges charge brokerage firms for stock quotations. Individual investors are indirectly paying for the fees, some regulators said Wednesday as the Securities and Exchange Commission took several actions designed to promote greater competition in the nation's securities markets. "It is absolutely critical that investors have ready access to timely and accurate information on (stock) quotations and transaction prices," SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt said. "Retail investors must continue to have access to market information that is fair and reasonable." The commissioners voted, 5-0, to seek public comment on a discussion paper produced by the SEC on the fees that the stock exchanges charge brokerage firms for real-time stock quotes. The fees, which totaled an estimated $414 million last year, help pay for the exchanges' operations and market oversight. In a discussion before the vote, Commissioner Laura Unger said individual investors pay indirectly for stock data when they use online brokerage firms. Annette Nazareth, director of the SEC's market regulation division, noted it's difficult for investors to see that they're paying for the data, since the brokerage firms tend to lump various charges together. The fees for market data often are "factored into their overall costs," she said. The SEC is seeking views on whether current practices for setting the fees and distributing the money raised to the exchanges should be changed to reflect the rapid transformation of the securities markets. The issue, which has pitted the exchanges against online brokers such as Charles Schwab and Ameritrade, has taken on new urgency as both the New York Stock Exchange and the all-electronic Nasdaq Stock Market are considering selling public stakes in their markets to increase their flexibility. Because online brokers often pass on the cost of market data to investors, "There's a lot of innovation that's being stifled because it's too expensive," Frank Kelly, senior vice president for government affairs at Schwab, said in an interview Wednesday. The agency "seems determined to provide transparency to a system that has none," he added. An NYSE spokesman said more than a million investors have access, at no charge, to real-time stock data through Web sites, cable television and other sources. "They are extremely available," said the spokesman, who asked that his name not be used. He noted that the NYSE had recently reduced the fees substantially. The NYSE, the world's biggest stock exchange, and the Nasdaq have come under competitive pressure from electronic communications networks, known as ECNs, which match buy and sell orders instantly. The SEC commissioners also voted Wednesday to adopt a new rule making it easier for securities dealers that are not NYSE members to trade stocks listed on the Big Board, by giving them full access to the Intermarket Trading System that links U.S. markets. In a related move last Thursday, the NYSE overturned its own rule that prevented its members from trading some of the Big Board's most popular stocks on ECNs. The move will allow the biggest trading firms on Wall Street to trade the stocks of such blue-chip companies as General Electric, IBM, and AT&T on the alternative networks, which offer cheaper and faster trading systems. It will also allow the big firms to trade the stocks on their own trading floors, bypassing the floor of the 207-year-old NYSE. The exchange supports the SEC action as a benefit to the investing public, the NYSE spokesman said. Nasdaq spokesman Scott Peterson also praised the SEC move. "Investors large and small will benefit from a marketplace that soon will be even more price-competitive than it is today," he said. In addition, the SEC commissioners put out for public comment a proposal that would allow regional stock exchanges to trade initial public offerings of stock, known as IPOs, on the first day of trading on national exchanges. The regional exchanges currently must wait until the second day. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- %