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To: TFF who wrote (10885)	7/11/2003 2:55:43 PM
From: TFF	Respond to of 12617

UBS to close CBOE, AMEX floor brokerage operations Reuters, 07.10.03, 6:30 PM ET NEW YORK, July 10 (Reuters) - UBS AG <UBSZn.VX> said on Thursday it will close its floor brokerage operations on the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the American Stock Exchange, following in the footsteps of other brokers. Approximately 15 UBS Investment Bank staffers will be laid off. The change came in response to "changes in the structure of the listed options market," UBS spokeswoman Amy Rosenberg said. Floor traders on the traditional options exchanges have had to grapple with the growth of electronic trading, weakness in the equity markets, intense competition from the multiple listing of options on different exchanges as well as shrinking profit margins related to decimalization. Since February, the New York-based, all-electronic International Securities Exchange has held onto its No. 1 position in equity options volume. If index options are included, the Chicago Board Options Exchange is still the world's largest options exchange by trading volume. Floor traders said Bear Stearns also cut 15 staff from its CBOE operations earlier this year. In an internal memo, UBS said it will continue to provide listed options trades to institutional and wealth management clients. The firm will continue to be members of and execute options and transactions on the CBOE, the AMEX and other exchanges including the ISE and the Boston Options Exchange when it commences trading. (Additional reporting by Doris Frankel) Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service

To: TFF who wrote (10885)	9/29/2003 1:37:09 PM
From: TFF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12617

Completion of Investigation of mini-sized Dow trading on July 3 The Chicago Board of Trade's Business Conduct Committee recently reviewed an investigative report prepared by the Office of Investigations and Audits regarding activity in the mini-sized *DowSM futures market on July 3, 2003, and determined that there was no basis to conclude that the actions of any market participant violated Exchange rules. On July 3, 2003, the CBOT® mini-sized DowSM futures experienced a sudden break of approximately 560 points in less than a minute. There was no economic or fundamental reason for the decline and the Exchange therefore promptly invoked its mistrade policy. Contrary to rumors that have circulated regarding this activity, the catalyst for the market break was not an order entry error. Rather, a large sell stop order was triggered, which, upon execution, elected additional sell stops at incrementally lower prices. The cumulative effect of the cascading stops and the new sell orders entered as the market declined created an unusual order imbalance that caused the price of the mini-sized Dow to break sharply and become substantially misaligned relative to all other related markets. Based on its review of this incident, the CBOT made several amendments to its mistrade policy to strengthen the bias toward trade certainty in mistrade scenarios and thus reduce the likelihood that trades will be invalidated. Additionally, in conjunction with the CBOT's migration to its new electronic trading platform in November 2003, the Exchange will have additional functionality that will reduce the incidence of mistrades, as well as mitigate the impact of potential mistrades that do occur. Questions in this regard may be directed to Dean Payton, Office of Investigations & Audits, telephone (312) 435-3658.