Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 43 / Monday, March 8, 2021 / Notices 13427 

16 17 CFR 240.17Ad–22(e)(6)(i) to (iii). 

17 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

also enhance various aspects of the 

related risk analysis and related 

calculations. Overall, these amendments 

strengthen ICE Clear Europe’s margin 

system and compliance with Rules 

17Ad–22(e)(6)(i) to (iii).16

(B) Clearing Agency’s Statement on 

Burden on Competition 

ICE Clear Europe does not believe the 

proposed rule changes would have any 

impact, or impose any burden, on 

competition not necessary or 

appropriate in furtherance of the 

purpose of the Act. The amendments to 

the Documents and the new Procedures 

apply to all CDS Contracts. In general, 

the amendments are intended to clarify 

the description of the CDS risk model, 

and not substantially change the 

practices of the Clearing House with 

respect to the calculation of CDS margin 

and GF requirements. As such, the 

amendments will apply to all CDS 

Clearing Members and are unlikely, in 

ICE Clear Europe’s view, to materially 

affect the cost of clearing for CDS 

products or affect access to clearing for 

CDS products at ICE Clear Europe or the 

market for cleared services generally. 

Certain amendments to the CDS Stress 

Testing Framework would add new 

stress-testing scenarios in light of recent 

events, including COVID–19 related 

scenarios. To the extent such 

amendments may have any impact on 

margin levels, ICE Clear Europe believes 

such changes will be appropriate in 

furtherance of the risk management of 

the Clearing House in light of the market 

movements observed during the 

pandemic. Therefore, ICE Clear Europe 

does not believe the proposed rule 

changes impose any burden on 

competition that is inappropriate in 

furtherance of the purposes of the Act. 

(C) Clearing Agency’s Statement on 

Comments on the Proposed Rule 

Change Received From Members, 

Participants or Others 

Written comments relating to the 

proposed rule changes have not been 

solicited or received. ICE Clear Europe 

will notify the Commission of any 

written comments received by ICE Clear 

Europe with respect to the proposed 

rule changes. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

Within 45 days of the date of 

publication of this notice in the Federal 

Register or within such longer period 

up to 90 days (i) as the Commission may 

designate if it finds such longer period 

to be appropriate and publishes its 

reasons for so finding or (ii) as to which 

the self-regulatory organization 

consents, the Commission will: 

(A) By order approve or disapprove 

the proposed rule change or 

(B) institute proceedings to determine 

whether the proposed rule change 

should be disapproved. 

IV. Solicitation of Comments 

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views, and 

arguments concerning the foregoing, 

including whether the proposed rule 

change is consistent with the Act. 

Comments may be submitted by any of 

the following methods: 

Electronic Comments 

• Use the Commission’s internet 

comment form (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml) or 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include File Number SR– 

ICEEU–2021–006 on the subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Secretary, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–ICEEU–2021–006. This file 

number should be included on the 

subject line if email is used. To help the 

Commission process and review your 

comments more efficiently, please use 

only one method. The Commission will 

post all comments on the Commission’s 

internet website (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the 

submission, all subsequent 

amendments, all written statements 

with respect to the proposed rule 

change that are filed with the 

Commission, and all written 

communications relating to the 

proposed rule change between the 

Commission and any person, other than 

those that may be withheld from the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be 

available for website viewing and 

printing in the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549, on official 

business days between the hours of 

10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of such 

filings will also be available for 

inspection and copying at the principal 

office of ICE Clear Europe and on ICE 

Clear Europe’s website at https://

www.theice.com/clear-europe/ 

regulation. All comments received will 

be posted without change. Persons 

submitting comments are cautioned that 

we do not redact or edit personal 

identifying information from comment 

submissions. You should submit only 

information that you wish to make 

available publicly. All submissions 

should refer to File Number SR–ICEEU– 

2021–006 and should be submitted on 

or before March 29, 2021. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.17

J. Matthew DeLesDernier, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–04678 Filed 3–5–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–91241; File No. SR– 

NASDAQ–2021–010] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; The 

Nasdaq Stock Market LLC; Notice of 

Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of 

Proposed Rule Change To Enhance 

the End of Day Summary Message on 

Nasdaq Last Sale Plus 

March 2, 2021. 

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

(‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2

notice is hereby given that on February 

17, 2021, The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC 

(‘‘Nasdaq’’ or ‘‘Exchange’’) filed with the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule 

change as described in Items I and II 

below, which Items have been prepared 

by the Exchange. The Commission is 

publishing this notice to solicit 

comments on the proposed rule change 

from interested persons. 

I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of Substance of 

the Proposed Rule Change 

The Exchange proposes to enhance 

the End of Day (‘‘EOD’’) summary 

message on Nasdaq Last Sale (‘‘NLS’’) 

Plus by replacing the current high, low 

and closing price of a security based on 

its trading on the Nasdaq, Nasdaq BX 

and Nasdaq PSX exchanges with the 

high, low and closing price of a security 

published by the securities information 

processors (‘‘SIPs’’), and adding the 

opening price of a security as published 

by the SIPs to that message 

The text of the proposed rule change 

is available on the Exchange’s website at 

https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/ 

rulebook/nasdaq/rules, at the principal 

office of the Exchange, and at the 

Commission’s Public Reference Room. 


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13428 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 43 / Monday, March 8, 2021 / Notices 

3The securities information processors issue 

consolidated trade information pursuant to the UTP 

Plan and the CTA/CQ Plan. 

4See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 89083 

(June 17, 2020), 85 FR 37706 (June 23, 2020) (SR– 

CboeEDGX–2020–029) (amending the content of the 

Cboe One Feed to identify the primary listing 

market’s official opening and closing price); NYSE 

Best Quote and Trades Client Specification (March 

30, 2020) (updated on January 31, 2020, to publish 

the listing market official opening and closing price 

in the Consolidated Stock Summary Messages) 

available at https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/ 

data/NYSE_BQT_Client_Specification_v2.3a.pdf. 

5The Proposal also clarifies the description of the 

information provided in NLS Plus. It removes an 

unnecessary sentence at the end of the description 

of NLS Plus stating that volume information reflects 

trading activity in Tape A and B Securities, and 

replaces it with an earlier reference to Tape A and 

B securities that provides the same information. It 

also separates the description of the end of day 

trade summary into two sentences for greater 

clarity: the first sentence lists the data provided by 

the Nasdaq equity exchanges, and the second 

sentence identifies the consolidated information 

obtained from Tapes A, B and C. The phrases ‘‘as 

well as consolidated volume of,’’ and ‘‘Cumulative 

Consolidated Market Volume’’ are deleted to 

remove repetitive language that might cause 

confusion. 

6Nasdaq Last Sale is comprised of two 

proprietary data feeds containing real-time last sale 

information for trades executed on Nasdaq or 

reported to the FINRA/Nasdaq Trade Reporting 

Facility. ‘‘Nasdaq Last Sale for Nasdaq’’ contains all 

such transaction reports for Nasdaq-listed stocks, 

and ‘‘Nasdaq Last Sale for NYSE/NYSE American’’ 

contains all such transaction reports for NYSElisted stocks and stocks listed on NYSE American 

and other Tape B listing venues. See Equity 7, 

Section 139(a). 

7The full list of NLS components is as follows: 

Trade Price, Trade Size, Sale Condition Modifiers, 

Cumulative Consolidated Market Volume for Tape 

A, B, and C securities, End of Day Trade Summary, 

Adjusted Closing Price, IPO Information, Bloomberg 

ID, and pertinent regulatory Information (such as 

Market Wide Circuit Breaker, Reg SHO Short Sale 

Price Test Restricted Indicator, Trading Action, and 

Symbol Directory). See Equity 7, Section 139(e). 

8See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 74972 

(May 15, 2015), 80 FR 29370 (May 21, 2015) (SR– 

Nasdaq–2015–055) (explaining that, in distributing 

NLS Plus, the role of Nasdaq ‘‘is analogous to that 

of other market data vendors . . . . [and] performs 

precisely the same functions as Bloomberg, 

Thomson Reuters, and dozens of other market data 

vendors.’’). 9See NLS Plus Version 3.0 Technical 

Specifications, Section 5.8.5 (End of Day Trading 

Summary) at 29, available at http://

www.nasdaqtrader.com/content/technicalsupport/ 

specifications/dataproducts/ 

NLSPlusSpecification3.0.pdf. 

10Tape A and Tape B securities are disseminated 

pursuant to the Security Industry Automation 

Corporation’s (SIAC’s) Consolidated Tape 

Association Plan/Consolidated Quotation System 

(‘‘CTA/CQS’’ or ‘‘CTA’’). 

11Tape C securities are disseminated pursuant to 

the NASDAQ Unlisted Trading Privileges (‘‘UTP’’) 

Plan. 

12 If there are no trades or no qualifying trades for 

a specific issue, all relevant fields for the EOD 

summary message will be left blank. 

II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

In its filing with the Commission, the 

Exchange included statements 

concerning the purpose of and basis for 

the proposed rule change and discussed 

any comments it received on the 

proposed rule change. The text of these 

statements may be examined at the 

places specified in Item IV below. The 

Exchange has prepared summaries, set 

forth in sections A, B, and C below, of 

the most significant aspects of such 

statements. 

A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

1. Purpose 

The Exchange proposes to enhance 

the EOD summary message on NLS Plus 

by replacing the current high, low and 

closing price of a security based on its 

trading on the Nasdaq, Nasdaq BX and 

Nasdaq PSX exchanges with the 

consolidated high, low and closing price 

as published by the SIPs, and adding the 

opening price of a security published by 

the SIPs to that message.3

This Proposal is in response to 

requests by firms using NLS Plus for a 

broader benchmark against which to 

compare trades on the Nasdaq 

exchanges. Specifically, approximately 

30 firms have requested that Nasdaq 

distribute benchmark prices on NLS 

Plus to provide retail investors and the 

general investing public with a static 

benchmark against which to compare 

the price movements shown on NLS 

Plus using standard high, low, opening 

and closing prices for U.S. markets as a 

whole. In response to that feedback, and 

also partly in response to recent changes 

by competitor exchanges to their end of 

day messages,4 Nasdaq proposes to 

enhance its EOD message for NLS 

Plus—which currently provides the 

high, low and closing price of a security 

based on its trading on Nasdaq 

affiliates—with a new EOD message that 

provides the high, low and closing price 

published by the SIPs, and add a new 

field with the opening price of a 

security as published by the SIPs.5

The Exchange proposes that this 

change become operative on April 12, 

2021, to allow time to conduct customer 

testing in advance of the date of launch. 

To ensure consistency across Nasdaq 

platforms, the Nasdaq BX and Nasdaq 

PSX exchanges will be filing companion 

proposals to reflect these changes in 

their respective rulebooks. 

Nasdaq Last Sale Plus 

NLS Plus is a comprehensive data 

feed that offers retail investors, the 

general investing public, and other 

customers access to the last sale 

products offered by Nasdaq,6 Nasdaq BX 

and Nasdaq PSX, and the consolidated 

volume information published on the 

SIPs for Tapes A, B, and C, in a 

convenient format that includes both 

real-time and end of day information.7

It is, in essence, a market data vendor 

product that consolidates information 

from multiple Nasdaq exchanges and 

the SIPs. This product directly competes 

against similar products offered by other 

exchanges, and faces potential 

competition from data vendors, which 

can obtain and distribute SIP data on 

the same terms as Nasdaq.8

At the close of each trading day, 

Nasdaq disseminates an EOD summary 

message on NLS Plus that includes the 

following information for all active 

Nasdaq- and non-Nasdaq-listed 

securities: 

• Nasdaq Price High: The highest 

price reported for a last sale transaction 

on any Nasdaq venue for the issue 

symbol during the current trading day. 

• Nasdaq Price Low: The lowest price 

reported for a last sale transaction on 

any Nasdaq venue for the issue symbol 

during the current trading day. 

• Nasdaq Price Closing: For Nasdaqlisted securities, this is the Nasdaq 

Official Closing Price value, if available. 

For non-Nasdaq-listed securities, it is 

the final last sale eligible transaction 

reported by any Nasdaq venue for the 

issue during normal market hours. 

• Consolidated Volume: Reflects the 

total volume for the issue reported at the 

consolidated market level.9

Proposal 

The Exchange proposes to enhance 

the current EOD summary message by 

providing the open, high, low, close and 

volume of a security based on the 

consolidated data provided by the UTP 

and CTA/CQ plans for Tape A, B 10 and 

C 11 securities. This will require 

replacing the current high, low, and 

close on the Nasdaq exchanges with the 

following three fields: 

• Consolidated Price High: The 

highest price of any high/low eligible 

transaction on Tapes A, B or C received 

on the trading day. 

• Consolidated Price Low: The lowest 

price of any high/low eligible 

transaction on Tapes A, B or C received 

on the trading day. 

• Consolidated Price Close: The final 

last sale eligible transaction on Tapes A, 

B or C received on the trading day.12

It will also require adding the 

following new field to the EOD 

summary message: 

• Consolidated Price Open: The first 

last sale eligible transactions received 

on the trading day for Tapes A, B or C. 


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13See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 82723 

(February 15, 2018), 83 FR 7812 (February 22, 2018) 

(SR–NASDAQ–2018–010) (quoting SR–NASDAQ– 

2006–060 (Amendment No. 2, June 10, 2008), at 3 

(explaining that NLS was designed to enable 

market-data ‘‘distributors to provide free access to 

the data to millions of individual investors via the 

internet and television’’ and was expected to 

‘‘increase the availability of NASDAQ proprietary 

market data to individual investors.’’); see also SR– 

NASDAQ–2006–060 (Amendment No. 2, June 10, 

2008) (available at http://nasdaq.cchwallstreet.com/ 

NASDAQ/pdf/nasdaq-filings/2006/SR-NASDAQ2006-060_Amendment_2.pdf); Securities Exchange 

Act Release No. 57965 (June 16, 2008), 73 FR 35178 

(June 20, 2008) (SR–NASDAQ–2006–060) 

(approving SR–NASDAQ–2006–060, as amended by 

Amendment Nos. 1 and 2, to implement NLS on a 

pilot basis). NLS Plus is a combination of NLS feeds 

from the Nasdaq equity exchanges. Like these 

underlying feeds, it is mainly designed for the use 

of the general investing public. 

14See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 89083 

(June 17, 2020), 85 FR 37706 (June 23, 2020) (SR– 

CboeEDGX–2020–029) (amending the content of the 

Cboe One Feed to identify the primary listing 

market’s official opening and closing price after a 

15 minute delay, effective July 10, 2020); NYSE Best 

Quote and Trades Client Specification, Version 2.3a 

(March 30, 2020) available at https://

www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/data/NYSE_BQT_

Client_Specification_v2.3a.pdf (updated on January 

31, 2020, to publish the listing market official 

opening and closing price in the Consolidated Stock 

Summary Messages). 

15Any customer that requires access to the high, 

low, and closing price of a security on the Nasdaq 

equity exchanges alone, and not the U.S. markets 

as a whole, would continue to have access to that 

information on the real-time NLS Plus data feed. 

16Although this is not a fee filing, the Exchange 

is addressing this question to provide as complete 

as possible an evaluation of the proposed change. 

See Division of Trading and Markets, U.S. 

Securities and Exchange Commission, ‘‘Staff 

Guidance on SRO Filings Related to Fees’’ (May 21, 

2019) (‘‘Staff Guidance’’), available at https://

www.sec.gov/tm/staff-guidance-sro-rule-filings-fees 

(indicating that the discussion of purpose should 

indicate ‘‘whether the relevant product or service, 

including the corresponding proposed fee or fee 

change, is targeted at—or expected to be limited in 

its applicability to—a specific segment(s) of market 

participants (and if so, the related details))’’. 

17See id. (requesting that the discussion of 

purpose address ‘‘the projected number of 

purchasers (including members, as well as nonmembers) of any new or modified product or 

service and the expected number of purchasers 

likely to be subject to a new fee or pricing tier, 

including members and non-members . . .’’). 

18 15 U.S.C. 78f(b). 

19 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5). 

20See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 75257 

(June 22, 2015), 80 FR 36862, 36864 (June 26, 2015) 

(SR–Nasdaq–2015–055) (‘‘NLS Plus Approval 

Order’’). 

21See id. at 36863. (‘‘In addition to last sale 

information, NLS Plus also disseminates the 

following data elements: Trade Price, Trade Size, 

Sale Condition Modifiers, Cumulative Consolidated 

Market Volume, End of Day Trade Summary, 

Adjusted Closing Price, IPO Information, and 

Bloomberg ID (together the ‘‘data elements’’). NLS 

Plus also features and disseminates the following 

messages: Market Wide Circuit Breaker, Reg SHO 

Short Sale Price Test Restricted Indicator, Trading 

Action, Symbol Directory, Adjusted Closing Price, 

and End of Day Trade Summary (together the 

‘‘messages’’).’’). 

22See id. at 36863. (‘‘Consolidated volume 

reflects the consolidated volume at the time that the 

NLS Plus trade message is generated, and includes 

the volume for the issue symbol as reported on the 

consolidated market data feed. The consolidated 

volume is based on the real-time trades reported via 

the UTP Trade Data Feed (‘‘UTDF’’) and delayed 

trades reported via CTA. NASDAQ OMX calculates 

the real-time trading volume for its trading venues, 

and then adds the real-time trading volume for the 

other (non-NASDAQ OMX) trading venues as 

reported via the UTDF data feed. For nonNASDAQ-listed issues, the consolidated volume is 

Continued 

The Consolidated Volume field will 

not change. 

The above data will be available to 

users of the NLS Plus feed on a delayed 

basis, 15 minutes after the real-time 

dissemination of the above data points 

on the UTP and CTA/CQ data feeds for 

that day. The Exchange is not proposing 

any change to NLS Plus fees as a result 

of this modification. 

Discussion 

The NLS Plus data feed, designed for 

distribution to the general investing 

public,13 is purchased by broker-dealers 

for dissemination to retail investors in 

the context of the brokerage relationship 

and financial media websites for the 

general investing public, among others. 

Approximately 30 firms that purchase 

or may purchase NLS Plus have 

requested that Nasdaq upgrade the EOD 

summary information to help investors 

place trades on the Nasdaq exchanges in 

the context of U.S. markets as a whole, 

rather than just the Nasdaq exchanges. 

Specifically, these firms requested that 

Nasdaq use benchmark prices for the 

high, low, opening and closing price of 

a security as published by the securities 

information processors to help investors 

understand price movements on the 

Nasdaq exchanges. 

This suggestion by Nasdaq’s 

customers is comparable to changes in 

the end of day messages undertaken 

recently by two of Nasdaq’s chief 

competitors, Cboe and NYSE, in their 

top-of-book data feeds. In 2020, both 

amended their end of day messages to 

identify the primary listing market’s 

official opening and closing price after 

a 15-minute delay, which, similar to the 

proposal by Nasdaq’s customers, 

establish an external benchmark against 

which to evaluate exchange data.14

In light of customer requests and 

changing industry standards, Nasdaq 

has determined that the requested 

change to the EOD summary message is 

in the best interest of our customers. 

The end of day data published by the 

securities information processors 

provides useful information on the state 

of the U.S. market as a whole, and 

including it on the NLS Plus feed will 

enhance investor understanding of the 

proprietary data distributed by the 

exchange.15 The proposal will also 

provide consumers with greater choice 

by offering an alternative to other EOD 

summaries offered in the market. 

Nasdaq therefore proposes to modify its 

EOD summary message to provide the 

Open, High, Low, Close and Volume of 

a security based on the consolidated 

data provided by the SIPs. This EOD 

message will be based on data obtained 

from the securities information 

processors, and will be distributed by 

Nasdaq as a vendor of SIP data, and will 

be subject to competition from all 

distributors of SIP data. 

The proposed change to the EOD 

summary message is not targeted at, or 

expected to be limited in its 

applicability to, any particular segment 

of market participants, and no segment 

of retail investors, the general investing 

public, or other any other market 

participant is expected to benefit more 

than any other.16

The Exchange expects that the new 

EOD message will be attractive to 

potential customers, and, based on 

conversations with potential customers 

and our overall familiarity with the 

market, Nasdaq expects between 

approximately 10 and 20 additional 

customers for NLS Plus as a result of the 

proposed change.17

2. Statutory Basis 

The Exchange believes that its 

proposal is consistent with Section 6(b) 

of the Act,18 in general, and furthers the 

objectives of Section 6(b)(5) of the Act,19

in particular, in that it is designed to 

promote just and equitable principles of 

trade, to remove impediments to and 

perfect the mechanism of a free and 

open market and a national market 

system, and, in general to protect 

investors and the public interest, and is 

not designed to permit unfair 

discrimination between customers, 

issuers, brokers, or dealers. 

In 2015, the Commission found the 

creation of the NLS Plus data feed to be 

‘‘consistent with section 6(b)(5) of the 

Act, which requires that the rules of an 

exchange be designed to promote just 

and equitable principles of trade, 

remove impediments to and perfect the 

mechanisms of a free and open market 

and a national market system and, in 

general, to protect investors and the 

public interest . . . .’’ 20 The NLS Plus 

Approval Order noted that NLS Plus 

disseminated an End of Day Trade 

Summary among other messages,21 and 

consolidated volume information 

obtained from the UTP and CTA 

Plans.22 As NLS Plus and the current 


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based on trades reported via SIAC’s Consolidated 

Tape System (‘‘CTS’’) for the issue symbol. The 

Exchange calculates the real-time trading volume 

for its trading venues, and then adds the 15-minute 

delayed trading volume for the other (non-NASDAQ 

OMX) trading venues as reported via the CTS data 

feed.’’). 

23See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 87803 

(December 19, 2019), 84 FR 71505 (December 27, 

2019) (SR–NYSE–2019–70) (explaining that the 

NYSE BQT market data product competes ‘‘head to 

head with the Nasdaq Basic and Cboe One 

Feed market data products.’’). 

24See https://markets.cboe.com/us/equities/ 

market_data_services/#:∼:text=Cboe%20Top

%20is%20a%20real,time%20on%20a%20Cboe

%20book.&text=It%20is%20a%20real%2Dtime,

time%20on%20a%20Cboe%20book. We note that 

Cboe recently proposed a fee reduction for top-ofbook data as well. See Securities Exchange Act 

Release No. 86670 (August 14, 2019), 84 FR 43207 

(August 20, 2019) (SR–CboeBYX–2019–012). 

25See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 89083 

(June 17, 2020), 85 FR 37706 (June 23, 2020) (SR– 

CboeEDGX–2020–029) (amending the content of the 

Cboe One Feed to identify the primary listing 

market’s official opening and closing price, effective 

July 10, 2020); NYSE Best Quote and Trades Client 

Specification, Version 2.3a (March 30, 2020), 

available at https://www.nyse.com/publicdocs/nyse/ 

data/NYSE_BQT_Client_Specification_v2.3a.pdf 

(updated on January 31, 2020, to publish the listing 

market official opening and closing price in the 

Consolidated Stock Summary Messages). 

26See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 75257 

(June 22, 2015), 80 FR 36862, 36864 (June 26, 2015) 

(SR–Nasdaq–2015–055) (‘‘NLS Plus Approval 

Order’’). 

end of day messages and volume 

information have already been shown to 

be consistent with Section 6(b) of the 

Act, this analysis therefore focuses on 

the consistency of the proposal to 

enhance the EOD summary message 

with data on the open, high, low and 

closing price of a security published by 

the SIPs. 

NLS Plus competes with the 

substitute top-of-book proprietary data 

products offered by other exchanges, 

including the NYSE BQT feed, which 

disseminates top-of-book information 

from the NYSE, NYSE American, NYSE 

Arca, NYSE National, and NYSE 

Chicago exchanges,23 and the Cboe One 

Summary Feed, which disseminates 

data from the BZX Exchange, BYX 

Exchange, EDGX Exchange and EDGA 

Exchange.24 NLS Plus also competes 

with the offerings of data vendors that 

distribute the proprietary data feeds of 

Nasdaq and other exchanges. Of 

particular importance here, Nasdaq 

obtains data from the SIPs on the same 

terms as any data vendor, and Nasdaq 

has no latency, cost, or other advantage 

in the distribution of end of day SIP 

data as proposed herein. Retail 

customers are potentially able to obtain 

such information from any distributor of 

SIP data. 

This Proposal reflects the competitive 

nature of these markets. As noted above, 

both NYSE and Cboe expanded their 

end of day summary messages in 2020 

to identify the primary listing market’s 

official opening and closing price after 

a 15-minute delay.25 Nasdaq’s change to 

the EOD summary message is, in part, 

a competitive response to the data feed 

changes introduced by these two 

competitors. The Proposal also 

promotes competition by providing 

investors with an additional option for 

receiving consolidated EOD security 

data. 

Moreover, as explained above, the 

Proposal will enhance investor 

understanding of the proprietary data 

distributed by the Exchange by 

providing a benchmark against which to 

compare such changes. 

Competition with other exchanges in 

the sale of top-of-book products, 

coupled with potential competition 

from vendors in the distribution of 

proprietary and consolidated data feeds, 

and the likelihood that the Proposal will 

enhance investor understanding of 

securities markets and promote 

consumer choice, all provide a 

substantial basis for finding that the 

Proposal promotes just and equitable 

principles of trade, removes 

impediments to and perfect the 

mechanism of a free and open market 

and a national market system, and 

protects investors and the public 

interest. 

The Proposal is not unfairly 

discriminatory. As noted previously, the 

NLS Plus data feed was found to be nondiscriminatory and otherwise consistent 

with the Act in 2015.26 The only change 

here is to enhance the EOD summary 

message with data on the open, high, 

low and closing price of a security 

published by the SIPs. As explained 

above, the proposed change to the EOD 

summary message is not targeted at, or 

expected to be limited in its 

applicability to, any particular segment 

of market participants, and no segment 

of retail investors, the general investing 

public, or any other market participant 

is expected to benefit more than any 

other. The proposed EOD summary 

message will be available to all NLS 

Plus purchasers, without differentiation 

of any kind, and is therefore not unfairly 

discriminatory. 

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

The Exchange does not believe that 

the proposed rule change will impose 

any burden on competition not 

necessary or appropriate in furtherance 

of the purposes of the Act. 

Intermarket Competition 

The Proposal, which adds the high, 

low, opening and closing price of a 

security as published by the SIP to the 

NLS Plus EOD message, will place no 

burden on intermarket competition (the 

competition among SROs). As explained 

above, NLS Plus already competes 

directly against the NYSE BQT feed and 

the Cboe One Summary Feed, and is 

subject to potential competition from 

market data vendors. In the particular 

context of distributing the proposed 

EOD message, the Exchange is in direct 

competition with any vendor of SIP 

information, and any vendor not 

currently distributing SIP data would be 

able to do so by obtaining such 

information from the SIPs and adding 

that information to their market data 

products. Rather than place a burden 

competition, the Proposal will enhance 

competition by providing consumers 

with greater choice through an 

alternative EOD summary not currently 

offered by NYSE or Cboe. 

Intramarket Competition 

The Proposal will not cause any 

unnecessary or inappropriate burden on 

intramarket competition (competition 

among exchange customers). As 

explained above, the Proposal is not 

targeted at, or expected to be limited in 

its applicability to, any particular 

segment of market participants, and no 

segment of retail investors, the general 

investing public, or any other market 

participant is expected to benefit more 

than any other. As such, the Proposal 

does not place any category of market 

participant at a relative disadvantage 

compared to any other market 

participant, and therefore will not 

impose any burden on competition not 

necessary or appropriate in furtherance 

of the Act. 

C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Comments on the 

Proposed Rule Change Received From 

Members, Participants, or Others 

No written comments were either 

solicited or received. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

Because the foregoing proposed rule 

change does not: (i) Significantly affect 

the protection of investors or the public 

interest; (ii) impose any significant 

burden on competition; and (iii) become 

operative for 30 days from the date on 

which it was filed, or such shorter time 

as the Commission may designate, it has 

become effective pursuant to Section 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 43 / Monday, March 8, 2021 / Notices 13431 

27 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A). 

28 17 CFR 240.19b–4(f)(6). In addition, Rule 19b– 

4(f)(6)(iii) requires a self-regulatory organization to 

give the Commission written notice of its intent to 

file the proposed rule change, along with a brief 

description and text of the proposed rule change, 

at least five business days prior to the date of filing 

of the proposed rule change, or such shorter time 

as designated by the Commission. The Exchange 

has satisfied this requirement. 29 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

1The estimated number of responses to rule 34b– 

1 is composed of 7,362 responses filed with FINRA 

and 351 responses filed with the Commission in 

2019. 

2 7,713 responses × 6 hours per response = 46,278 

hours. 

19(b)(3)(A) of the Act 27 and Rule 19b– 

4(f)(6) thereunder.28

At any time within 60 days of the 

filing of the proposed rule change, the 

Commission summarily may 

temporarily suspend such rule change if 

it appears to the Commission that such 

action is necessary or appropriate in the 

public interest, for the protection of 

investors, or otherwise in furtherance of 

the purposes of the Act. If the 

Commission takes such action, the 

Commission shall institute proceedings 

to determine whether the proposed rule 

change should be approved or 

disapproved. 

IV. Solicitation of Comments 

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views, and 

arguments concerning the foregoing, 

including whether the proposed rule 

change is consistent with the Act. 

Comments may be submitted by any of 

the following methods: 

Electronic Comments 

• Use the Commission’s internet 

comment form (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml); or 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include File Number SR– 

NASDAQ–2021–010 on the subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Secretary, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–NASDAQ–2021–010. This 

file number should be included on the 

subject line if email is used. To help the 

Commission process and review your 

comments more efficiently, please use 

only one method. The Commission will 

post all comments on the Commission’s 

internet website (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the 

submission, all subsequent 

amendments, all written statements 

with respect to the proposed rule 

change that are filed with the 

Commission, and all written 

communications relating to the 

proposed rule change between the 

Commission and any person, other than 

those that may be withheld from the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be 

available for website viewing and 

printing in the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room, 100 F Street NE, 

Washington, DC 20549, on official 

business days between the hours of 

10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of the 

filing also will be available for 

inspection and copying at the principal 

office of the Exchange. All comments 

received will be posted without change. 

Persons submitting comments are 

cautioned that we do not redact or edit 

personal identifying information from 

comment submissions. You should 

submit only information that you wish 

to make available publicly. All 

submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–NASDAQ–2021–010 and 

should be submitted on or before March 

29, 2021. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.29

J. Matthew DeLesDernier, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2021–04681 Filed 3–5–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[OMB Control No. 3235–0346, File No. 270– 

305] 

Proposed Collection; Comment 

Request 

Upon Written Request, Copies Available 

From: Securities and Exchange 

Commission, Office of FOIA Services, 

100 F Street NE, Washington, DC 

20549–2736 

Extension: 

Rule 34b–1. 

Notice is hereby given that, pursuant 

to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) the Securities 

and Exchange Commission (the 

‘‘Commission’’) is soliciting comments 

on the collection of information 

summarized below. The Commission 

plans to submit this existing collection 

of information to the Office of 

Management and Budget for extension 

and approval. 

Rule 34b–1 under the Investment 

Company Act (17 CFR 270.34b–1) 

governs sales material that accompanies 

or follows the delivery of a statutory 

prospectus (‘‘sales literature’’). Rule 

34b–1 deems to be materially 

misleading any investment company 

(‘‘fund’’) sales literature required to be 

filed with the Securities and Exchange 

Commission (‘‘Commission’’) by Section 

24(b) of the Investment Company Act 

(15 U.S.C. 80a–24(b)) that includes 

performance data, unless the sales 

literature also includes the appropriate 

uniformly computed data and the 

legend disclosure required in 

investment company advertisements by 

rule 482 under the Securities Act of 

1933 (17 CFR 230.482). Requiring the 

inclusion of such standardized 

performance data in sales literature is 

designed to prevent misleading 

performance claims by funds and to 

enable investors to make meaningful 

comparisons among funds. 

The Commission estimates that on 

average approximately 351 respondents 

file 7,362 1 responses that include the 

information required by rule 34b–1 each 

year. The burden resulting from the 

collection of information requirements 

of rule 34b–1 is estimated to be 6 hours 

per response. The total hourly burden 

for rule 34b–1 is approximately 46,278 

hours per year in the aggregate.2

The collection of information under 

rule 34b–1 is mandatory. The 

information provided under rule 34b–1 

is not kept confidential. The 

Commission may not conduct or 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to, a collection of information 

unless it displays a currently valid OMB 

control number. 

Written comments are invited on: (a) 

Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the 

proposed performance of the functions 

of the agency, including whether 

information will have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate 

of the burden of the collection of 

information; (c) ways to enhance the 

quality, utility, and clarity of the 

information collected; and (d) ways to 

minimize the burden of the collection of 

information on respondents, including 

through the use of automated collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology. Consideration will be given 

to comments and suggestions submitted 

in writing within 60 days of this 

publication. 

Please direct your written comments 

to David Bottom, Director/Chief 

Information Officer, Securities and 

Exchange Commission, C/O Cynthia 

Roscoe, 100 F Street NE, Washington, 

DC 20549; or send an email to: PRA_

Mailbox@sec.gov. 


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