NEW YORK, June 26, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced the NASDAQ Closing Cross had a record day today as it was used to reconfigure the entire family of U.S. Russell indexes during their annual reconstitution.
A record 1.002 billion shares representing $9.2 billion were executed in the Closing Cross in 2.9 seconds across some 2,034 NASDAQ-listed stocks. This compares with 893.3 million shares in 5.0 seconds representing $12.0 billion executed during Russell's annual reconstitution in 2008. To see the top 10 crosses in terms of share volume, please visit http://www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/Top-10-by-Volume-and-ADV-2009.pdf.
NASDAQ official closing prices (NOCPs) determined by the NASDAQ Closing Cross are widely used throughout the industry, including by Russell Indexes, Standard & Poor's, Dow Jones, and mutual funds across the country.
"Yet another record-setting performance by the NASDAQ Closing Cross can be attributed to the willingness of market makers and other industry professionals to use a premier price discovery facility that provides unparalleled transparency," stated Brian Hyndman, Senior Vice President, NASDAQ OMX. "By leveraging NASDAQ's speed, access and market structure, the NASDAQ Closing Cross generated -- on one of the heaviest trading days of the year -- accurate closing prices widely used as benchmarks throughout the industry."
The Closing Cross brings together the buy and sell interest in specific NASDAQ, NYSE and Amex stocks and executes all shares for each stock at a single price, one that reflects the true supply and demand for these securities. All nationally-listed securities are eligible for the NASDAQ Closing Cross.
The Russell U.S. Indexes include only common stocks incorporated in the U.S., its territories, and certain countries or regions offering U.S. companies operational, tax, political or other financial benefits. All U.S. indexes are subsets of the Russell 3000E(tm) Index, which represents approximately 99% of the U.S. equity market. Russell U.S. Indexes allow investors to track current and historical market performance by specific market segment (large cap/small cap) or investment style (growth/value). Today, more than $4.4 trillion in assets are benchmarked to the Russell Indexes.
Russell reconstitution day is usually one of the most highly anticipated and heaviest trading days in the U.S. equity market as asset managers seek to reconfigure their portfolios to reflect the composition of Russell's U.S. indexes. The index reconstitution process was completed today and the newly reconstituted index membership will take effect before markets open on Monday, June 29, 2009. For more information about the NASDAQ Closing Cross, please visit http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=OpenClose.
About NASDAQ OMX
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world's largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, with over 3,800 listed companies. NASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market, NASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMX Baltic, NASDAQ OMX First North, and the U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and exchange-traded funds. NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries. NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMX exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that are made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the NASDAQ Closing Cross. We caution that these statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond NASDAQ OMX's control. These factors include, but are not limited to factors detailed in NASDAQ OMX's annual report on Form 10-K, and periodic reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to release any revisions to any forward-looking statements.
NDAQG