Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 210 / Monday, November 1, 2004 / Notices 63417

1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 3The Exchange’s rule filing is intended to 

conform Exchange rules to an amendment to the 

Plan for the Purpose of Creating and Operating an 

Intermarket Option Linkage (‘‘Linkage Plan’’) filed 

by the Amex and the other participants of the 

Linkage Plan and recently approved by the 

Commission (‘‘Joint Amendment No. 13’’). See

Securities Exchange Act Release No. 50562 (October 

19, 2004) (File No. 4–429).

4See Letter from Jeffery P. Burns, Associate 

General Counsel, Amex, to Nancy Sanow, Assistant 

Director, Division of Market Regulation, 

Commission, dated September 9, 2004 

(‘‘Amendment No. 1’’). In Amendment No. 1, the 

Amex amended the proposed rule text to reflect a 

technical change.

5Securities Exchange Act Release No. 50394 

(September 16, 2004), 69 FR 57110 (SR–Amex–

2004–63).

6See Joint Amendment No. 13, supra note 3.

7 In approving these proposals, the Commission 

has considered the proposed rule’s impact on 

efficiency, competition, and capital formation. 15 

U.S.C. 78c(f).

8 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).

9See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 48957 

(December 18, 2003), 68 FR 75294 (December 30, 

2003) (SR–Amex–2003–24).

10 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(2).

By the Commission. 

Jill M. Peterson, 

Assistant Secretary.

[FR Doc. E4–2918 Filed 10–29–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[File No. 500–1] 

U.S. Canadian Minerals, Inc.; Order of 

Suspension of Trading 

October 28, 2004. 

It appears to the Securities and 

Exchange Commission that there is a 

lack of current and accurate information 

concerning the securities of U.S. 

Canadian Minerals, Inc. (OTC Bulletin 

Board symbol ‘‘USCA’’), a Nevada 

corporation. Questions have been raised 

about the accuracy of publicly 

disseminated information concerning, 

among other things, U.S. Canadian 

Minerals’ financing and mining 

activities and the value of U.S. Canadian 

Minerals’ purported assets. 

The Commission is of the opinion that 

the public interest and the protection of 

investors require a suspension of trading 

in the securities of the above-listed 

company. 

Therefore, it is ordered, pursuant to 

Section 12(k) of the Securities Exchange 

Act of 1934, that trading in the above 

listed company is suspended for the 

period from 9:30 a.m. EDT, October 28, 

2004, through 11:59 p.m. EST, on 

November 10, 2004.

By the Commission. 

Jill M. Peterson, 

Assistant Secretary.

[FR Doc. 04–24411 Filed 10–28–04; 12:00 

pm] 

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–50587; SR–Amex–2004–63] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; Order 

Approving a Proposed Rule Change 

and Amendment No. 1 by the American 

Stock Exchange LLC Relating to 

Minimum Size Guarantees for Linkage 

Orders 

October 25, 2004. 

I. Introduction 

On August 3, 2004, the American 

Stock Exchange LLC (‘‘Amex’’ or 

‘‘Exchange’’), filed with the Securities 

and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’), pursuant to Section 

19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act 

of 1934 (‘‘Act’’) 1 and Rule 19b–4 

thereunder,2 a proposed rule change to 

modify the definitions of Firm Customer 

Quote Size (‘‘FCQS’’) and Firm 

Principal Quote Size (‘‘FPQS’’) 

contained in the Amex rules by 

changing certain minimum size 

guarantees for Linkage Orders to 

accommodate the ‘‘natural size’’ of 

quotations.3 On September 10, 2004, the 

Amex submitted Amendment No. 1 to 

the proposed rule change.4 Notice of the 

Amex’s proposed rule change, as 

amended, was published in the Federal 

Register on September 23, 2004.5

No comments were received on the 

proposed rule change. This order 

approves the proposed rule change, as 

amended. 

II. Description of the Proposals 

The purpose of the proposed rule 

change is to amend the definitions of 

FCQS and FPQS provided in Amex Rule 

940(b) to conform them to the 

definitions provided in the Linkage 

Plan, as amended by Joint Amendment 

No. 13.6 While the proposed rule change 

would maintain a general requirement 

in Amex Rule 940(b) that the FCQS and 

FPQS be at least 10 contracts, that 

requirement would not apply if, 

pursuant to its rules, the Exchange were 

disseminating a quotation of fewer than 

10 contracts. In that case, the Amex 

could establish a FCQS or FPQS equal 

to its disseminated size, or ‘‘natural 

size.’’

Under the proposed rule change, as 

with Linkage orders today, if an order is 

of a size eligible for automatic 

execution, the Amex (as the receiving 

options exchange) must provide an 

automatic execution of the Linkage 

order. If this is not the case (for 

example, the Amex’s automatic 

execution system is not engaged), the 

Exchange may allow the order to drop 

to manual handling. However, the Amex 

still must provide a manual execution 

for at least the FCQS or FPQS, as 

appropriate (in this case, the size of its 

disseminated quotation of less than 10 

contracts). 

III. Discussion 

After careful review, the Commission 

finds that the proposed rule change, as 

amended, is consistent with the 

requirements of the Act and the rules 

and regulations thereunder applicable to 

a national securities exchange.7 In 

particular, the Commission finds that 

the proposal, as amended, is consistent 

with the provisions of Section 6(b)(5) of 

the Act,8 which requires, among other 

things, that a national securities 

exchange’s rules be designed to prevent 

fraudulent and manipulative acts and 

practices, to promote just and equitable 

principles of trade, to remove 

impediments to and to perfect the 

mechanism of a free and open market 

and a national market system and, in 

general, to protect investors and the 

public interest.

The Commission notes that the Amex 

adopted the current definitions of FCQS 

and FPQS, which impose a ‘‘10-up’’

requirement, at a time when it had rules 

requiring that the minimum size 

disseminated with a quotation be for at 

least 10 contracts. Consequently, if the 

Amex received a customer limit order 

for fewer than 10 contracts, the 

Exchange would disseminate the price 

of the customer limit order with a size 

of 10 contracts and the specialist or the 

trading crowd would be responsible to 

make up the difference. Since 

implementation of the Linkage Plan, the 

Amex has amended Exchange Rule 

958A to permit the dissemination of the 

‘‘natural size’’ of customer limit orders 

that are of a size of less than 10 

contracts.9 The Commission believes 

that approval of the proposed rule 

change will permit Amex to conform its 

rules relating to Linkage orders to 

Exchange rules that apply to nonLinkage orders and will allow the Amex 

to disseminate a customer limit order’s 

‘‘natural size,’’ which should provide 

greater transparency to investors and the 

marketplace, and better reflect the true 

state of liquidity in the marketplace.

IV. Conclusion 

It is therefore ordered, pursuant to 

Section 19(b)(2) of the Act,10 that the