Nasdaq Delays Implementation of After Hours Inside Quote Calculation Until February 7, 2000

The Nasdaq Stock Market® today announced that, in an effort to cooperate with all Nasdaq® market participants and in consultation with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it will delay the implementation of inside quotation calculations in the after-hours trading environment until February 7, 2000. At that time, Nasdaq will calculate a continuous inside quote-the highest bid and lowest offer from all market participants-throughout the after-hours session from 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time (ET) to 6:30 p.m., ET in those securities in which market participants have entered quotations. This extension of service was previously scheduled for implementation on December 6, 1999. The delay in implementation resulted from the mutual fund community's concern regarding its ability to provide accurate fund prices-known as net-asset-values (NAVs)-based on the official 4:00 p.m., ET closing inside quote, since the quotes will continue to update until 6:30 p.m. Nasdaq responded to their concern in October 1999, by initiating the distribution of a file through market data vendors at 4:15 p.m., ET that contains the 4:00 p.m. inside quote on each Nasdaq security. The fund families are now adjusting their pricing systems to process this daily file, and will be ready to operate in the new environment on February 7, 2000. In conjunction with the calculation and distribution of the inside quote starting on February 7, 2000, NASD members will be required to comply with all applicable limit order protection and display rules. Until then, the SEC has indicated it will provide temporary relief from those rules due to the lack of an inside quote calculation. On October 25, 1999, Nasdaq launched the first phase of extended system hours by keeping certain automated systems open until 6:30 p.m., ET for the voluntary entry of trade reports (through ACTSM) and SelectNet® orders. On November 15, 1999, Nasdaq made it mandatory for market participants to report all after-hours trades in its ACT system. All trades performed after 4:00 p.m., ET are considered after-hours trades. The trade reports are appended with a ".T" to distinguish them from regular market trades. The after-hours trades affect the volume in the security, but are not incorporated into the Last Sale price and do not affect Index calculations or mutual fund NAVs. However, several market data vendors have adjusted their systems to capture the ".T" trades and are displaying them to the investing community. Additionally, Nasdaq's primary Web site www.Nasdaq.com has a special section that provides a trade-by-trade summary of the after-hours trading activity in each Nasdaq security. 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.