Nasdaq Indices Temporarily Disrupted Due To Problem With Communications Line At Data Center - Nasdaq Trading Unaffected By Suspension Of Last Sale Price Information on Trader

The Nasdaq Stock Market® announced today that a communications line malfunctioned before noon today. Last sale price information on Nasdaq® securities-with symbols beginning A through J-were unable to be transmitted to Nasdaq Workstations II professional workstations. Subsequently, Nasdaq halted the dissemination of current values of all indices-except for the Nasdaq-100® that is calculated in a different system. During the approximate two-hour disruption, dissemination of last sale prices and other data by market data vendors was unaffected. Vendors distribute this information to the financial community as well as the investing and general public. Trading in Nasdaq securities continued throughout this period without interruption. Nasdaq Workstation II computer terminals are used primarily by Market Makers, order entry firms, and investors who subscribe to this service. Once the glitch in the communications line was isolated and resolved, the backlog of last sale information was processed. This took approximately 45 minutes. When the queue of last sale information was eliminated, Nasdaq again disseminated current index values. During this entire period, the Unisys mainframe computer performed flawlessly and, in fact, continued to process and store last sale prices and index values. Once the problem with the communications line was fixed, the mainframe computer disseminated the data. The Nasdaq Stock Market lists nearly 5,000 companies, has a larger dollar volume, and trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. Nasdaq is a subsidiary of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD®), the largest securities-industry, self-regulatory organization in the United States. For more information about Nasdaq, visit the Nasdaq Web site at www.nasdaq.com or the Nasdaq NewsroomSM at www.nasdaqnews.com.