SCROLLING NEWS

Clarification: $2.5 million is the figure for Primark's net income in the first quarter of 1999, not net income from continuing operations. The drop from the same period last year is due to the sale of 60 per cent of the company in mid-1999.

The Amsterdam Stock Exchange (AEX) is splitting options data into two broadcast groups on its Mercury2000 feed, effective Monday, August 30. Currently, all options data is distributed in one group, but for load-balancing reasons the data will be put into two groups, the first containing post-trade and basic data (start of day summary, traded prices, end-of-day summary and new/deleted series) and pre-trade data (book-quotes and market-quotes). A new version of the feed spec, including these changes and Y2K modifications, is now available from AEX-Data Services Operation Department.

In other news from AEX, the exchange is introducing a number of new indices, and is building a separate index calculation machine to be the source for these new indices.

The board of The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) has approved a proposal to plan a late trading session. NASD, parent of Nasdaq and the American Stock Exchange , said the late session would run from 5:30 pm to 9 or 10 pm Eastern time Monday through Thursday. If approved by the SEC, the late session would be likely to start around Labor Day. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is holding a board meeting next week where extended trading will be discussed and possibly voted on. The planned change is in response to increased Internet trading, where by some estimates, 40 per cent of stock orders are placed after the market has closed. Early support for the expanded trading hours has come from Instinet Corp.

Bloomberg Tradebook has announced an agreement with Investment Technology Group (ITG) to create Tradebook SuperECN. The new product will combine Bloomberg Tradebook's Electronic Communications Network (ECN) with ITG's electronic execution products Quantex, ITG Platform and Posit. Tradebook SuperECN will allow Bloomberg and ITG subscribers to access both continuous and "mid-point crossing" liquidity in Nasdaq and listed shares at the same time. No release date has yet been announced.

In a related story, Bloomberg Tradebook and CLSA Global Emerging Markets have joined to create Global Tradebook, a worldwide equity executing, matching, order-routing and settlement provider aimed at institutional investors and broker/dealers across the globe. Global Tradebook, scheduled for release in the third quarter of 1999, aims to provide investors and broker/dealers with straight through processing (STP) of international orders in 65 countries.

The SEC has announced a chance for Edgar filers to test the Y2K compatibility of the system. On Monday July 12 at 8 am, the Edgar test system clock will be reset to read February 21, 2000. This will continue for 18 days until 10 pm on July 30, or March 10, 2000 on the test clock. During the test, the system will be available for test filings and Edgar filer support staff will be available with phone support. Detailed information is available on the SEC's website.

Following the recent announcement of its new vertical realignment strategy, Thomson Financial has acquired National Regulatory Services and NRS Systems (NRS). NRS provides market analysis, registrations, outsourcing and web-based services to the investment adviser, broker-dealer, investment and insurance markets. NRS will be added to TF's Securities Data Publishing unit.

With the SIA show right around the corner, the party notices are starting to circulate. Sun Microsystems will be holding a special dinner on Wednesday, June 16 at the Rihga Royal Hotel from 6 to 9 PM. The evening will include cocktails and dinner, plus a keynote address from Masood Jabbar, president, Sun Microsystems Computer Systems and a discussion and Q&A with executives from: Accutrade, Chase Manhattan, JP Morgan, Nomura International, SunGard Data Systems and Wilco International. Those seeking invites should email Jon Lavietes, Burson-Marsteller for Sun, at jon_lavietes@yr.com, before June 11.

The CBOT Board of Directors voted late last week to schedule a June 24 membership vote on the proposed CBOT-Eurex alliance and move forward immediately with several other initiatives aimed at expanding business opportunities for CBOT members. Actions approved included exploring opportunities to link with a cash trading system, giving members unlimited access to Project A screens for proprietary trading, and introducing changes to certain Project A and Ceres fees.