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Stocks in decimals by 2001
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June 13, 2000: 4:29 p.m. ET
SEC orders U.S. markets to list stock prices with decimals by April 2001
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday ordered the major U.S. stock markets to begin listing stock prices using a decimal system no later than April 9, 2001, setting a new timetable for the long-awaited changeover from a fraction-based system for listing stock prices.
The revised deadline comes after the National Association of Securities Dealers, the parent of the electronically traded Nasdaq stock market, said in March that it will not meet a July 3 deadline to begin phasing in the new system because of problems in upgrading its technology.
Under the new SEC timeline, the New York Stock Exchange will be required to begin phasing in decimal pricing on Sept. 5, 2000. The NYSE has said that it is ready to begin trading in decimals.
Nasdaq now faces a March 12, 2001 deadline for the phase-in to begin. All stocks must be priced in decimals no later than April 9, 2001.
Both markets will be required to submit their phase-in plans by July 24, 2000.
U.S. exchanges are the only major world markets to price stocks in fractions, a system that dates back to colonial times.
Under the new system, a stock currently priced at 20-1/4, for example, would be priced at $20.25. Government officials say that a decimal-based system would narrow the spreads between the bid and ask price, because decimal pricing is more precise. It also would put U.S. markets more in line with other markets around the world.
"It is time for the U.S. securities market to make this change," SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt said Tuesday.
Brokerages have long opposed the changeover, fearing lower profit from the narrower spreads. 
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