Wick Simmons, Nasdaq's chief executive officer, commented, "The results of today's tests are terrific. It was one of our most successful tests ever. We're ready to go on Monday."
Today's testing focused mainly on the connectivity between the firms, that is, the ability of all participants to interact with the market. Firms representing over 98% of a normal day's volume participated successfully in the test. Nearly all participants were connected within the first two hours. Over 2,400 of the 2,700 Nasdaq servers at Market Maker locations were operational. Since most Market Makers have multiple servers, Nasdaq is confident that this represents a successful test of virtually all market participants.
The final decision to reopen on Monday will be a joint decision among the exchanges and the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is expected that that decision will be announced later this weekend.
The Nasdaq Stock Market lists over 4,300 companies and trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. For more information about Nasdaq, visit the Nasdaq Web site at www.nasdaq.com or the Nasdaq NewsroomSM at www.nasdaqnews.com.
