Nasdaq Software Upgrade Affects Three ECNs

The Nasdaq Stock Market® today announced that it experienced a general slowdown in its SelectNet system for several hours due to software changes implemented Tuesday night that were designed to accommodate the extension of its trade reporting and quotation systems for after-hours trading. Three electronic communication networks (ECNs) were affected and their quotations were temporarily withdrawn. Two of the ECNs requested to be removed from the market because of the slowness of the SelectNet system. The third was removed because market participants were unable to reach the ECN by SelectNet or phone, resulting in locked and crossed markets. Once the ECNs were removed from the market, the SelectNet system was able to function more normally. The prior version of the software was re-enabled to the ECNs. Island ECN rejoined the market at 12:37 p.m.; Instinet at 1:00 p.m.; and BRUT at 1:04 p.m. SelectNet is an optional trading execution service of Nasdaq-one of several available to traders. Overall trading volume for today was above average at more than 1.165 billion shares. "There was an issue today with the slowness of the SelectNet system. Thus, we reduced the volume of activity by removing several high traffic ECNs temporarily from the system, both voluntarily and at our request, to allow the rest of the market to operate normally," said J. Patrick Campbell, Chief Operating Officer of The Nasdaq Stock Market. 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.