IN BRIEF

With reports from The New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, Easdaq and The Spanish Financial Derivatives Exchange.

The New York Stock Exchange has confirmed that it may be ready to sell shares to the public by mid-November while the Nasdaq market could be traded publicly by early next year. Under their current structures, member companies of the exchanges are charged yearly dues, pay commissions on each trade and fees for stock quote access. As publicly traded corporations, the Nasdaq and New York exchange acquire upstart networks currently lowering their trading volume. Instead of raising fees of members, they could use shares of stock for acquisitions to finance expansion abroad as well.

Dan Franks has been appointed senior vice president of market operations at the Nasdaq Stock Market. The responsibilities of the position include overseeing the day-to-day Nasdaq market operation. The market operations sector links communication between Nasdaq market makers and responds to market needs in times of emergency market conditions. Franks was previously vice president of trading at Richmond, VA-based Scott & Stringfellow, and has been a Nasdaq trader since 1969.

EASDAQ announced the SEC has approved procedures permitting U.S. companies to undertake an IPO on the EASDAQ without registering with the SEC. The no-action letter from the SEC, for the first time, gives U.S. companies the power to offer their securities in Europe without registering with the SEC. EASDAQ, a European stock market for international growth and technology companies, has designed new procedures to prevent unregistered securities from getting back into the U.S. These include the modification of trading symbols to alert market participants that special restrictions apply to these securities and EASDAQ cooperation to ensure securities are not purchased on behalf of U.S. persons.

The Spanish Financial Derivatives Exchange (MEFF) and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange have agreed to jointly trade and clear futures and options on the Standard & Poor's Euro and Euro Plus Indexes. CME members will have direct access to the MEFF electronic trading book and, as a special clearing member of the CME, the MEFF will clear transactions through the CME Clearing House on behalf of its members and their customers. Trading of the futures and options on the indexes is expected to begin early next year pending regulatory approval.