Self-Regulatory Organizations; The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC; Notice of Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change To Add Seventy-Five Options Classes to the Penny Pilot Program

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Federal RegisterAug 6, 2010
75 Fed. Reg. 47670 (Aug. 6, 2010)
July 30, 2010.

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Act”), and Rule 19b-4 thereunder, notice is hereby given that on July 22, 2010, The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) the proposed rule change as described in Items I and II, which Items have been prepared by Nasdaq. The Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments on the proposed rule change from interested persons.

17 CFR 240.19b-4.

I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance of the Proposed Rule Change

Nasdaq is filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or “Commission”) a proposal for the NASDAQ Options Market (“NOM” or “Exchange”) to designate seventy-five options classes to be added to the Penny Pilot Program (“Penny Pilot” or “Pilot”) on August 2, 2010. The Exchange is not proposing to amend any rule text, but simply administering or enforcing an existing rule.

The Penny Pilot was established in March 2008 and in October 2009 was expanded and extended through December 31, 2010. See Securities Exchange Act Release Nos. 57579 (March 28, 2008), 73 FR 18587 (April 4, 2008)(SR-NASDAQ-2008-026) (notice of filing and immediate effectiveness establishing Penny Pilot); 60874 (October 23, 2009), 74 FR 56682 (November 2, 2009) (SR-NASDAQ-2009-091) (notice of filing and immediate effectiveness expanding and extending Penny Pilot); 60965 (November 9, 2009), 74 FR 59292 (November 17, 2009) (SR-NASDAQ-2009-097) (notice of filing and immediate effectiveness adding seventy-five classes to Penny Pilot); 61455 (February 1, 2010), 75 FR 6239 (February 8, 2010) (SR-NASDAQ-2010-013) (notice of filing and immediate effectiveness adding seventy-five classes to Penny Pilot); and 62029 (May 4, 2010), 75 FR 25895 (May 10, 2010) (SR-NASDAQ-2010-053) (notice of filing and immediate effectiveness adding seventy-five classes to Penny Pilot).

See Chapter VI, Section 5 regarding the Penny Pilot.

The text of the proposed rule change is available from Nasdaq's Web site at http://nasdaq.cchwallstreet.com/Filings/,, at Nasdaq's principal office, and at the Commission's Public Reference Room.

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

The purpose of this filing is to identify the next seventy-five options classes to be added to the Penny Pilot effective August 2, 2010.

In the Exchange's immediately effective filing to extend and expand the Penny Pilot through December 31, 2010, the Exchange proposed expanding the Pilot four times on a quarterly basis. Each such quarterly expansion would be of the next seventy-five most actively traded multiply listed options classes based on the national average daily volume (“ADV”) for the six months prior to selection, closing under $200 per share on the Expiration Friday prior to expansion; however, the month immediately preceding the addition of options to the Penny Pilot will not be used for the purpose of the six-month analysis. Index option products would be included in the quarterly expansions if the underlying index levels were under 200.

See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 60874 (October 23, 2009), 74 FR 56682 (November 2, 2009) (SR-NASDAQ-2009-091) (notice of filing and immediate effectiveness).

The Exchange is identifying, in the chart below, seventy-five options classes that it will add to the Penny Pilot on August 2, 2010, based on ADVs for the six months ending June 30, 2010.

Nat'l ranking Symbol Security name Nat'l ranking Symbol Security name
199 MBI MBIA Inc. 316 CB Chubb Corp.
205 MA Mastercard Inc. 320 ADM Archer-Daniels-Midland Co.
224 ATPG ATP Oil & Gas Corp/United States 322 HSY Hershey Co./The
226 YUM Yum! Brands Inc 323 TXT Textron Inc.
232 RCL Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. 324 GGP General Growth Properties Inc.
238 BPOP Popular Inc. 325 NOV National Oilwell Varco Inc.
248 EK Eastman Kodak Co. 326 TWX Time Warner Inc.
252 CNX Consol Energy Inc. 327 XOP SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF.
260 DCTH Delcath Systems Inc. 328 MYL Mylan Inc./PA.
274 MTG MGIC Investment Corp. 329 TSO Tesoro Corp.
277 PXP Plains Exploration & Production Co. 330 CI CIGNA Corp.
278 GPS Gap Inc./The 331 ESI ITT Educational Services Inc.
280 TSL Trina Solar Ltd. 332 NKE NIKE Inc.
282 EWW iShares MSCI Mexico Investable Market Index Fund 335 FIS Fidelity National Information Services Inc.
283 CRM Salesforce.com Inc. 336 SUN Sunoco Inc.
286 SWN Southwestern Energy Co. 338 BBBY Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.
287 HBAN Huntington Bancshares Inc./OH 340 APWR A-Power Energy Generation Systems Ltd.
288 EOG EOG Resources Inc. 341 FWLT Foster Wheeler AG.
290 APA Apache Corp. 342 LNC Lincoln National Corp.
291 VVUS Vivus Inc. 343 RSH RadioShack Corp.
292 JDSU JDS Uniphase Corp. 344 TYC Tyco International Ltd.
293 ACI Arch Coal Inc. 345 CL Colgate-Palmolive Co.
294 NE Noble Corp. 346 FXP ProShares UltraShort FTSE/Xinhua China 25.
296 BAX Baxter International Inc. 347 NTAP NetApp Inc.
297 ADSK Autodesk Inc. 348 SO Southern Co.
299 KRE SPDR KBW Regional Banking ETF 349 PHM Pulte Group Inc.
300 XL XL Group Plc 350 HOT Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.
302 WLT Walter Energy Inc. 351 QLD ProShares Ultra QQQ.
303 IBN ICICI Bank Ltd. 352 VRSN VeriSign Inc.
305 EWY iShares MSCI South Korea Index Fund 353 PCL Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc.
306 WHR Whirlpool Corp. 354 NBR Nabors Industries Ltd.
307 BHI Baker Hughes Inc. 355 ESRX Express Scripts Inc.
308 KMP Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP 356 ACAS American Capital Ltd.
309 MRO Marathon Oil Corp. 357 XLNX Xilinx Inc.
310 AGO Assured Guaranty Ltd. 358 DO Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc.
311 GIS General Mills Inc. 359 CMA Comerica Inc.
312 ANR Alpha Natural Resources Inc. 360 KEY KeyCorp.
314 GENZ Genzyme Corp.

2. Statutory Basis

The Exchange believes that its proposal is consistent with Section 6(b) of the Act in general, and furthers the objectives of Section 6(b)(5) of the Act in particular, in that it is designed to prevent fraudulent and manipulative acts and practices, to promote just and equitable principles of trade, to foster cooperation and coordination with persons engaged in facilitating transactions in securities, and to remove impediments to and perfect the mechanisms of a free and open market and a national market system, by identifying the options classes to be added to the Penny Pilot in a manner consistent with prior approvals and filings.

15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).

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.

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

The proposed rule change is filed for immediate effectiveness pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act and Rule 19b-4(f)(1) thereunder as it constitutes a stated policy, practice, or interpretation with respect to the meaning, administration, or enforcement of an existing rule. At any time within 60 days of the filing of the proposed rule change, the Commission summarily may temporarily suspend 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.

17 CFR 240.19b-4(f)(1).

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 rule-comments@sec.gov. Please include File Number SR-NASDAQ-2010-092 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

  • Send paper comments in triplicate to Elizabeth M. Murphy, Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street, NE., Washington DC 20549-1090.

All submissions should refer to File Number SR-NASDAQ-2010-092. 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 Web site viewing and printing in the Commission's Public Reference Room, 100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC 20549, on official business days between the hours of 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. 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 No. SR-NASDAQ-2010-092 and should be submitted on or before August 27, 2010.

For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated authority.

Florence E. Harmon,

Deputy Secretary.

[FR Doc. 2010-19334 Filed 8-5-10; 8:45 am]

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