Philadelphia Stock Exchange Applauds U.S. Senate Leadership For Withdrawal Of Repeal Of 60/40 Tax Treatment From Senate Version Of Jobs And Growth Bill - "Senate Action Strengthens Our Markets By Preserving The Liquidity And The Critical Role Of Options M

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange applauds the U.S. Senate's withdrawal of language repealing the 60/40 tax treatment for options market makers and futures traders from the current version of the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003. The Exchange advocated, in concert with the other options exchanges and futures markets, to remove the language repealing 60/40 as detrimental to the markets by potentially shutting down options market making firms' business and robbing the market of necessary liquidity.

"I want to thank Senator Frist, Senator Daschle and our own Senator Rick Santorum for recognizing that 60/40 tax treatment is critical to the market making community and the options market's health overall," said Meyer "Sandy" Frucher, chairman and CEO of the Exchange. "Our ability to talk to the Senate leadership of both parties and Senator Santorum in particular about the issue was very important to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and his role in withdrawing the repeal means a lot to our members, but more importantly, to the investing public because it will retain liquidity in the markets."

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) was founded in 1790. The PHLX trades more than 2,200 stocks, 1,016 listed equity options, 12 sectors index options and currency pairs. For more information about the PHLX and its products, visit www.phlx.com.