Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 64 / Wednesday, April 4, 2007 / Notices 16391 

13 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

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

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

3This includes securities listed on Nasdaq’s 

predecessor market, operated as a facility of the 

NASD. 

4See Head Trader Alert 2005–133 (November 14, 

2005), available at: http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/ 

Trader/News/2005/headtraderalerts/hta2005- 

133.stm and Vendor Alert 2005–070 (November 14, 

2005), available at: http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/ 

Trader/News/2005/vendoralerts/nva2005-070.stm. 

See also Head Trader Alert 2006–144 (September 

29, 2006), available at: http:// 

www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader/News/2006/ 

headtraderalerts/hta2006-144.stm, Head Trader 

Alert 2006–193 (November 16, 2006), available at: 

http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader/News/2006/ 

headtraderalerts/hta2006-193.stm and Vendor Alert 

2006–065 (October 4, 2006), available at: http:// 

www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader/News/2006/ 

vendoralerts/nva2006-065.stm. 

5See Head Trader Alert 2006-201 (December 6, 

2006), available at: http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/ 

Trader/News/2006/headtraderalerts/hta2006- 

201.stm, Head Trader Alert 2007–008 (January 25, 

2007), available at: http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/ 

Trader/News/2007/headtraderalerts/hta2007- 

008.stm, Head Trader Alert 2007–011 (January 30, 

2007), available at: http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/ 

Trader/News/2007/headtraderalerts/hta2007- 

011.stm, Head Trader Alert 2007–020 (February 7, 

2007), available at: http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/ 

Trader/News/2007/headtraderalerts/hta2007- 

020.stm, and Head Trader Alert 2007–034 (February 

16, 2007), available at: http:// 

www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader/News/2007/ 

headtraderalerts/hta2007-034.stm. 6Head Trader Alert 2007–050 (March 1, 2007), 

available at: http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader/ 

News/2007/headtraderalerts/hta2007-050.stm. 

7See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 55519 

(March 26, 2007) (SR–NASDAQ–2007–025). 

8Nasdaq states that it remains committed to 

working with the Commission and other markets to 

establish an equitable and transparent symbol 

assignment plan. 

public in accordance with the 

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

available for inspection and copying in 

the Commission’s Public Reference 

Room. Copies of the filing also will be 

available for inspection and copying at 

the principal office of Nasdaq. All 

comments received will be posted 

without change; the Commission does 

not edit personal identifying 

information from submissions. You 

should submit only information that 

you wish to make available publicly. All 

submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–NASDAQ–2007–010 and 

should be submitted on or before April 

25, 2007. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Market Regulation, pursuant to delegated 

authority.13

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E7–6179 Filed 4–3–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–55563; File No. SR–

NASDAQ–2007–031] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; The 

NASDAQ Stock Market LLC; Notice of 

Filing of Proposed Rule Change 

Relating to Trading Three-Character 

Symbols 

March 30, 2007. 

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 March 29, 

2007, The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC 

(‘‘Nasdaq’’) filed with the Securities and 

Exchange Commission (‘‘Commission’’) 

the proposed rule change as described 

in Items I, II, and III below, which Items 

have been substantially prepared by 

Nasdaq. 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 the Substance 

of the Proposed Rule Change 

Nasdaq proposes to allow any 

company with a three-character symbol 

that transfers its securities to Nasdaq 

from another domestic market to 

continue using the existing threecharacter symbol that identifies the 

company’s securities. 

II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

In its filing with the Commission, 

Nasdaq 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. Nasdaq 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 

Historically, securities listed on 

Nasdaq have traded using four or five 

character symbols.3 In 2005, however, 

Nasdaq announced its intent to allow 

companies listed on Nasdaq to also use 

one-, two-, or three-character symbols 

beginning on January 31, 2007.4 This 

announcement was designed to provide 

market participants and vendors the 

time needed to make required changes 

to their own systems that may be 

affected by the change. Nasdaq 

announced a series of dates throughout 

December 2006 and January and 

February 2007 where market 

participants could test trading Nasdaq 

stocks using one-, two-, or threecharacter symbols on weekends, in after 

hour sessions, and during full day 

sessions.5 Beginning February 20, 2007, 

Nasdaq had the ability to accept and 

distribute Nasdaq-listed securities with 

one-, two-, or three-character symbols. 

Nasdaq reminded market participants 

about this change again on March 1, 

2007, stressing that ‘‘[a]ll customers 

should have completed their coding and 

testing efforts to ensure their readiness 

to support 1-, 2- and 3-character 

NASDAQ-listed issues.’’ 6 On March 22, 

2007, Delta Financial Corporation 

transferred the listing of its common 

stock to Nasdaq from the American 

Stock Exchange (‘‘Amex’’) and 

maintained its three-character symbol, 

DFC.7 Nasdaq represents that there have 

been no trading problems reported to 

Nasdaq as a result of trading that 

security on Nasdaq with a threecharacter symbol. 

Nasdaq now proposes to allow any 

company with a three-character symbol 

that transfers its securities to Nasdaq 

from another domestic market to 

continue using the existing threecharacter symbol that identifies the 

company’s securities.8 Nasdaq believes 

that this will promote competition 

among exchanges and reduce investor 

confusion. Specifically, Nasdaq believes 

that issuers should have the freedom of 

choice and competition. Nasdaq 

believes that as issuers face the 

important choice of where to list their 

equities, the symbol an issuer currently 

uses should not factor prominently in 

the listing decision process. Similarly, 

Nasdaq believes that the symbol that a 

market assigns to an issuer should not 

serve as an anchor if the issuer wishes 

to transfer to a competing market. 

Nasdaq believes that, as such, 

permitting the portability of these 

symbols will enhance competition 

among exchanges and encourage issuers 

to evaluate exchanges on the basis of 

objective criteria, including the most 

efficient trading platform for investors 

and the lowest costs for shareholders. 

Nasdaq believes that permitting 

companies to continue to use their 

historical symbol will also reduce 

investor confusion associated with any 

such transfer because investors will 

continue to be able to obtain quotations 

and execute trades using the same 

familiar symbol and will allow the 

issuer to maintain a symbol that has 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES
16392 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 64 / Wednesday, April 4, 2007 / Notices 

9Nasdaq states that a market transfer will be 

transparent to investors because, under the 

Commission’s rules, a company must announce the 

transfer of its listing on a Form 8–K. See Form 

8–K, item 3.01(d). In addition, the issuer must 

publish notice of its intent to delist its securities 

from the current market, in a press release and on 

its Web site. See 17 CFR 240.12d2–2(c)(2)(iii). 

10See, e.g., Allis-Chambers Energy (announced 

on March 7, 2007 its intent to switch from Amex 

to NYSE keeping the symbol ALY), Yamana Gold 

Inc. (announced on December 21, 2006 its intent to 

switch from Amex to NYSE keeping the symbol 

AUY), VAALCO Energy (announced on October 2, 

2006 its intent to switch from Amex to NYSE 

keeping the symbol EGY), the transfer of 15 iShares 

ETFs from the Amex to NYSE Arca keeping their 

symbols announced on September 27, 2006, and the 

transfer of The Latin America Equity Fund, Inc., 

Credit Suisse Asset Management Income Fund, Inc., 

The Chile Fund, among others, from NYSE to 

AMEX on May 11, 2006 keeping their respective 

symbols CIK, LAQ and CH. A complete list of these 

transfers is available from Nasdaq upon request. 

11Nasdaq became operational as an exchange for 

Nasdaq-listed securities on August 1, 2006. See 

Nasdaq Issuer Alert 2006–001, available at: http:// 

www.complinet.com/file_store/pdf/rulebooks/ 

nasdaq_ia2006-001.pdf. See also Securities 

Exchange Act Release No. 53128 (January 13, 2006), 

71 FR 3550 (January 23, 2006). 

12 15 U.S.C. 78f. 13 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5). 14 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

become a part of its identity to 

investors.9

Nasdaq believes that this proposal is 

also consistent with the historical 

practice of companies that have 

switched among national securities 

exchanges. Since August 2001, 

approximately 200 issues have 

transferred their listing between the 

Amex, the New York Stock Exchange 

(‘‘NYSE’’), and NYSE Arca, while 

maintaining their original ticker symbol 

upon transfer.10 Now that Nasdaq is also 

a national securities exchange,11

allowing companies to maintain their 

symbol when transferring to Nasdaq 

would be consistent with the current 

practices of other exchanges. 

Finally, Nasdaq believes that the 

changes to its systems to accommodate 

one-, two-, and three-character symbols 

will enhance the strength of the U.S. 

capital markets. As a result of these 

technological changes, all Nasdaq 

systems, including the Securities 

Information Processor (SIP), are able to 

support all NYSE- and Amex-listed 

securities using their original symbols 

over its core transaction and data 

platforms. Nasdaq notes that this 

provides an added level of redundancy 

and resiliency for the U.S. capital 

markets, and is key to Nasdaq’s ability 

to provide a full back-up for other 

equity markets in the event of a national 

or local emergency thereby enhancing 

the strength of the U.S. capital markets. 

2. Statutory Basis 

Nasdaq believes that the proposed 

rule change is consistent with the 

provisions of Section 6 of the Act,12 in 

general and with Section 6(b)(5) of the 

Act,13 in particular, in that it is designed 

to prevent fraudulent and manipulative 

acts and practices, to promote just and 

equitable principles of trade, to remove 

impediments to a free and open market 

and a national market system, and, in 

general, to protect investors and the 

public interest. Nasdaq believes that the 

proposal will reduce investor confusion 

and encourage competition among 

exchanges. 

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

Nasdaq does not believe that the 

proposed rule change will result in any 

burden on competition that is not 

necessary or appropriate in furtherance 

of the purposes of the Act, as amended. 

C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Comments on the 

Proposed Rule Change Received From 

Members, Participants, or Others 

Written comments were neither 

solicited nor received. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

Within 35 days of the date of 

publication of this notice in the Federal 

Register or within such longer period (i) 

as the Commission may designate up to 

90 days of such date 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 such 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 e-mail to rulecomments@sec.gov. Please include File 

Number SR–NASDAQ–2007–031 on the 

subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Nancy M. Morris, Secretary, 

Securities and Exchange Commission, 

100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC 

20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–NASDAQ–2007–031. This 

file number should be included on the 

subject line if e-mail 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 Web site (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 inspection and copying in 

the Commission’s Public Reference 

Room. Copies of such filing also will be 

available for inspection and copying at 

the principal office of the Exchange. All 

comments received will be posted 

without change; the Commission does 

not edit personal identifying 

information from submissions. You 

should submit only information that 

you wish to make available publicly. All 

submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–NASDAQ–2007–031 and 

should be submitted on or before April 

25, 2007. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Market Regulation, pursuant to delegated 

authority.14

Florence E. Harmon, 

Deputy Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E7–6335 Filed 4–3–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8010–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–55548; File No. SR–NYSE–

2006–71] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; New 

York Stock Exchange LLC; Order 

Granting Accelerated Approval of 

Proposed Rule Change as Modified by 

Amendment No. 1 To List and Trade 

Nine Series of Exchange-Traded Notes 

of Barclays Bank PLC Linked to the 

Performance of Sub-Indices of the Dow 

Jones—AIG Commodity Index SM

March 28, 2007. 

On August 24, 2006, the New York 

Stock Exchange LLC (‘‘Exchange’’ or 


jlentini on PROD1PC65 with NOTICES