For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated authority.\16\
\16\ 17 CFR 200.303(a)(12).
Florence E. Harmon,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. E815100 Filed 7208; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 801001P

SUMMARY: New York Stock Exchange LLC,

DOCUMENT BODY 2: June 26, 2008.

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Act'') \1\ and Rule19b4 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given that on June 23, 2008, the New York Stock Exchange LLC (``NYSE'' or the ``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 substantially prepared by the Exchange. The Exchange has designated the proposed rule change as a ``non controversial'' proposed rule change pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act \3\ and Rule 19b4(f)(6) thereunder,\4\ which renders the proposal effective upon filing with the Commission. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments on the proposed rule change from interested persons.
\1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
\2\ 17 CFR 240.19b4.
\3\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
\4\ 17 CFR 240.19b4(f)(6).
I. SelfRegulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance of the Proposed Rule Change

The Exchange proposes to amend NYSE Rule 104.10 to extend the duration of the pilot program applicable to Conditional Transactions as defined in Rule 104.10(6)(i) in all securities to September 30, 2008. The text of the proposed rule change is available at NYSE, http:// www.nyse.com, and the Commission's Public Reference Room. II. SelfRegulatory 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. SelfRegulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

1. Purpose

The Exchange is proposing to amend NYSE Rule 104.10 to extend the duration of the pilot program applicable to Conditional Transactions as defined in Rule 104.10(6)(i) in all securities for an additional three months until September 30, 2008.

On October 26, 2007, the Commission approved the ability of NYSE specialists to effect Conditional Transactions pursuant to NYSE Rule 104.10(6) in all securities traded on the NYSE to operate as a pilot through March 31, 2008 (the ``Conditional Transaction Pilot'').\5\ \5\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 56711 (October 26, 2007), 72 FR 62504 (November 5, 2007) (SRNYSE200783). The Pilot was extended for an additional three months until June 30, 2008. See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 57592 (April 1, 2008), 73 FR 18836 (April 7, 2008) (SRNYSE200823).

(a) Current Conditional Transaction Pilot

Conditional Transactions are specialists' transactions that establish or increase a position and reach across the market to trade as the contraside to the Exchange published bid or offer. Under the current Conditional Transaction Pilot, NYSE specialists are allowed to effect Conditional Transactions in all securities traded on the NYSE until June 30, 2008.

When a specialist effects a Conditional Transaction, he or she has obligations to reenter the market on the opposite side from which the specialist effected his or her Conditional Transaction pursuant to the rule. Specifically, pursuant to NYSE Rule 104.10(6)(ii),
``appropriate'' reentry means ``reentry on the opposite side of the market at or before the price participation point or the `PPP.' '' \6\ Depending on the type of Conditional Transaction, a specialist's obligation to reenter may be immediate or subject to the same reentry conditions of NonConditional Transactions.\7\ Conditional
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Transactions are subject to a specialist's overall negative obligation.\8\ As a condition of operating the Conditional Transaction Pilot, the Exchange committed to providing the Commission with data related to specialist executions of Conditional Transactions. The Exchange has provided the Commission's Division of Trading and Markets and Office of Economic Analysis with statistics related to market quality, specialist trading activity and sample statistics for the months of November 2007 through May 2008. The data includes the daily Consolidated Tape volume in shares, daily number of trades, daily high low volatility in basis points, and daily close price in dollars. \6\ NYSE Rule 104.10(6)(iii)(a) provides that the PPP identifies the price at or before which a specialist is expected to reenter the market after effecting a Conditional Transaction. PPPs are only minimum guidelines and compliance with them does not guarantee that a specialist is meeting its obligations. The Exchange issued guidance regarding PPPs in January 2007. See NYSE Member Education Bulletin 20071 (January 18, 2007).
\7\ NYSE Rule 104.10(6)(iii)(c) provides that immediate reentry is required after the following Conditional Transactions:
(I) A purchase that (1) Reaches across the market to trade with an Exchange published offer that is above the last differently priced trade on the Exchange and above the last differently priced published offer on the Exchange, (2) is 10,000 shares or more or has a market value of $200,000 or more, and (3) exceeds 50% of the published offer size.
(II) A sale that (1) Reaches across the market to trade with an Exchange published bid that is below the last differently priced trade on the Exchange and below the last differently priced published bid on the Exchange, (2) is 10,000 shares or more or has a market value of $200,000 or more, and (3) exceeds 50% of the published bid size.

Pursuant to current NYSE Rule 104.10(6)(iv), Conditional Transactions that involve:
(a) A specialist's purchase from the Exchange published offer that is priced above the last differentlypriced trade on the Exchange or above the last differentlypriced published offer on the Exchange; and
(b) A specialist's sale to the Exchange published bid that is priced below the last differentlypriced trade on the Exchange or below the last differentlypriced published bid on the Exchange are subject to the reentry requirements for NonConditional
Transactions pursuant to Rule 104.10(5)(i)(a)(II)(c).

NYSE Rule 104.10(5)(i)(a)(II)(c) provides:

Reentry Obligation Following NonConditional TransactionsThe specialist's obligation to maintain a fair and orderly market may require reentry on the opposite side of the market trend after effecting one or more NonConditional Transactions. Such reentry transactions should be commensurate with the size of the Non Conditional Transactions and the immediate and anticipated needs of the market.
\8\ The negative obligation, which is part of NYSE Rule 104, requires that specialists restrict their dealings so far as practicable to those reasonably necessary to permit the specialists to maintain a fair and orderly market. Specifically, NYSE Rule 104(a) provides:

No specialist shall effect on the Exchange purchases or sales of any security in which such specialist is registered, for any account in which he, his member organization or any other member, allied member, or approved person, (unless an exemption with respect to such approved person is in effect pursuant to Rule 98) in such organization or officer or employee thereof is directly or indirectly interested, unless such dealings are reasonably necessary to permit such specialist to maintain a fair and orderly market, or to act as an oddlot dealer in such security.

The Exchange continues to calculate the specialist's profit on roundtrip Hit Bid and Take Offer (``HB/TO'') executions. This is accomplished by measuring the specialist's profit on HB/TO activity by taking the roundtrip trading profits for all HB/TO trades where the specialist executes an offsetting trade within 30 seconds. In cases where the volume of the offsetting execution is less than the size of the HB/TO execution, the calculation will only include profits realized within the 30second window.

The Exchange continues to calculate the quotebased specialist re entry ratio. Each reentry price level is categorized and reported separately. In addition, the Exchange continues to provide the Commission with data related to the average realized spread on specialist HB/TO executions. These calculations are done using the same formula as SEC Rule 605. Specifically, the average realized spread is a shareweighted average of realized spreads. For specialist buys, it is double the amount of difference between the execution price and the midpoint of the consolidated best bid and offer five minutes after the time of HB/TO execution. For specialist sells, it is double the amount of difference between the midpoint of the consolidated best bid and offer five minutes after the time of HB/TO execution and the execution price.

The Exchange will continue to provide all the aforementioned information to the Commission on or before the 15th of the calendar month directly following the data month. The Exchange will maintain average measures for each stockday during a particular month in order to provide such information to the Commission upon request.

Furthermore, NYSE Regulation, Inc. (``NYSER'') believes that it has appropriate surveillance procedures in place to surveil for compliance with the negative obligations of specialists. NYSER monitors, using a patternandpractice and/or outlier approach, specialist activity that appears to cause or exacerbate excessive price movement in the market (since such transactions would appear to be in violation of a specialist's negative obligation). In this connection, NYSER continues to surveil for specialist compliance with the PPP reentry
requirements, and, based on its reviews of surveillance data to date, has not identified significant compliance issues. The Division of Market Surveillance of NYSER also monitors specialist trading to cushion such price movements.

(b) Conclusion

The Exchange believes that an extension of the current Conditional Transaction Pilot program will continue to provide NYSE specialists with the flexibility to compete and to efficiently and systematically trade and quote in their securities as well as equip them to fluidly manage their risk.

In view of the above, the NYSE believes it is appropriate to extend the operation of the Conditional Transaction Pilot program for an additional three months until September 30, 2008.

2. Statutory Basis

The Exchange believes that the proposed rule change is consistent with the requirement under Section 6(b)(5) \9\ of the Act that an Exchange have rules that are 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. The proposed rule change also is designed to support the principles of Section 11A(a)(1) \10\ in that it seeks to assure economically efficient execution of securities transactions. The Exchange believes that extending the operation of the Conditional Transaction Pilot will provide specialists with the required flexibility to compete, thus adding value to the Exchange market by encouraging specialists to continue to commit capital. Ultimately, the Exchange believes that the Conditional Transaction Pilot benefits the marketplace by allowing specialists to manage their risk and, therefore, provides them with the ability to increase the liquidity they provide at prices outside the best bid and offer, as well as meet their obligation to bridge temporary gaps in supply and demand and dampen volatility.
\9\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
\10\ 15 U.S.C. 78k1(a)(1).
B. SelfRegulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition

The Exchange does not believe that the proposed rule change will impose any burden on competition that is not necessary or appropriate in furtherance of the purposes of the Act.
C. SelfRegulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed Rule Change Received From Members, Participants or Others

No written comments were solicited or received with respect to the proposed rule change.
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III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for Commission Action

The proposed rule change has become effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act \11\ and Rule 19b4(f)(6) thereunder \12\ because the foregoing proposed rule change: (1) Does not significantly affect the protection of investors or the public interest; (2) does not impose any significant burden on competition; and (3) by its terms, does not become operative for 30 days after the date of filing, or such shorter time as the Commission may designate if consistent with the protection of investors and the public interest.
\11\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).

\12\ 17 CFR 240.19b4(f)(6).

A proposed rule change filed under Rule 19b4(f)(6) normally may not become operative prior to 30 days after the date of filing.\13\ However, Rule 19b4(f)(6)(iii) permits the Commission to designate a shorter time if such action is consistent with the protection of investors and the public interest. The Exchange has asked the Commission to waive the 30day operative delay, as specified in Rule 19b4(f)(6)(iii),\14\ which would make the rule change effective and operative upon filing. The Commission believes that waiving the 30day operative delay is consistent with the protection of investors and the public interest because such waiver would allow the Conditional Transaction Pilot to continue without interruption through September 30, 2008 and provide the Exchange and the Commission additional time to evaluate the pilot.\15\ Accordingly, the Commission designates the proposed rule change effective and operative upon filing with the Commission.
\13\ 17 CFR 240.19b4(f)(6)(iii). In addition, Rule 19b
4(f)(6)(iii) requires the selfregulatory organization to give the Commission 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. NYSE has satisfied this requirement.
\14\ 17 CFR 240.19b4(f)(6)(iii).
\15\ For purposes only of waiving the operative delay for this proposal, the Commission has considered the proposed rule's impact on efficiency, competition, and capital formation. See 15 U.S.C. 78c(f).

At any time within 60 days of the filing of the proposed rule change, the Commission may summarily abrogate 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.

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

For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated authority.\16\
\16\ 17 CFR 200.303(a)(12).
Florence E. Harmon,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. E815100 Filed 7208; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 801001P