Pending SEC approval of the plan submitted by the Exchange Committee on Decimals, decimal pricing will start Aug. 28 in the following NYSE-listed stocks announced earlier this month: Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (trading symbol APC); Forest City Enterprises Inc. Class A (FCE A); Forest City Enterprises Inc. Class B (FCE B); FedEx Corp. (FDX); Gateway Inc. (GTW); Hughes Supply Inc. (HUG); and MSC.Software Corp. (MNS). The American Stock Exchange also will have several stocks in the pilot program.
In the pilot, stocks will be priced in dollars and cents instead of fractions, and the minimum pricing increment will be one penny. On Sept. 25, the pilot will expand to include approximately 50 NYSE-listed stocks, in addition to some stocks from other markets. Approximately 60 days after that, the NYSE and the industry in consultation with the SEC will evaluate the pilot results, focusing on the impact on liquidity, trading patterns and systems capacity. Following that, a decision will be made on when to extend decimal pricing to all NYSE-listed stocks. The industry plan recommended an April 9, 2001 deadline for decimalization of all equities and options markets.
The NYSE has been decimal ready since April 2000, and has been working closely with the industry and the SEC on the implementation plans. The NYSE's board approved conversion to decimal pricing in June 1997 -- the first U.S. securities market to take that step - with the goal of making prices more easily understood by investors, reducing spreads and bringing the United States into conformity with international practices.
