NEW YORK (CNNfn) - The dog days of summer brought the dawn of decimalization to 13 U.S. stocks Monday. Seven of the stocks are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and six are listed on the American Stock Exchange.
Rather than the typical fraction, the issues are being quoted in dollars and cents. This transition is expected to provide more efficient pricing, thereby saving investors money.
"The trading is going smoothly," said NYSE spokesman Ray Pellechia. There were not any statistics available about how the volume was doing compared with normal trading for these issues. But the NYSE will conduct an evaluation within the next two months, said Pellechia.
Click here to read about CNNfn.com's use of decimals.
The seven NYSE stocks were steadily trading Monday afternoon. Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC: Research, Estimates) rose 27 cents to $62.15, FedEx Corp. (FDX: Research, Estimates) fell 48 cents to $40.77, Forest City Enterprises Inc. Class A shares (FCE.A: Research, Estimates) slid 6 cents to $35.07, Forest City Enterprises Inc. Class B shares (FCE.B: Research, Estimates) rose 16 cents to $37.85, Gateway Inc. (GTW: Research, Estimates) jumped 36 cents to $66.55, Hughes Supply Inc. (HUG: Research, Estimates) ended unchanged at $20.25, and MSC.Software Corp. (MNS: Research, Estimates) gained 12 cents to $10.00.
Decimalization among the six AMEX stocks also was proceeding smoothly. Regal Beloit Corp. (RBC: Research, Estimates) ended flat at $16.75, Psychemedics Corp. (PMD: Research, Estimates) rose 7 cents to $4.70, Global Light Telecommunications Inc. (GBT: Research, Estimates) slipped 13 cents to $9.93, ON2.com Inc. (ONT: Research, Estimates) shed 3 cents to $3.41, eMagin Corp. (EMA: Research, Estimates) gained 91 cents to $9.66, and Media General Inc. (MEG.A: Research, Estimates) fell $1.01 to $50.74.
The idea of converting from fractions to decimals was first conceived in 1995 and received more attention by mid-1997 when the fraction system was converted from 1/8 to 1/16 increments.
According to the chairman of the NYSE, the move to decimalization will help the exchanges compete more effectively with other world markets, which already quote prices in currency terms.
"This positions us to be competitive on a global scale and brings investors the benefit of greater liquidity," Richard Grasso, chairman and CEO of the NYSE, told CNNfn's market coverage. "I think it's very appropriate that we analyze the performance of the market in the pre and post decimalization period, with special attention being given to making certain that public investors are treated as well in decimals as they have been in fractions for the past 208 years."
Still, not everyone was buoyant about the transition. "I don't think you're doing anyone a public service by doing this. I don't really view it as any kind of material generator of savings to investors at all," said Howard Ward, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds. "The markets were working perfectly well without it. Speaking as a professional investor, maybe there's an adjustment period, a transition period, and maybe in two months I'll say it was no big deal. But as of today, to me, I find trying to read the tape more confusing than it was before."
But Bernie Madoff, chairman of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, said the move to dollars and cents will benefit everyone.
"There are more advantages to having a more efficient and lower trading cost overall because it increases the volume, the frequency at which people are willing to trade, and people feel they are getting a better deal so it's better for the markets overall," he said. "If it's better for investors, that usually means it's better for professionals as well."
Linda Jay, a NYSE floor trader at RPM Specialists, told CNNfn's Market Call that there will be an adjustment period but ultimately the conversion to decimals will be positive for the market. (454 WAV) (454 AIFF)
By Monday afternoon, traders seemed to have settled into the decimal system with no significant technical difficulties.
"So far it's gone off without a hitch on the first day," said Madoff. "The only valid concern that was out there was the issue of quote traffic and quote updates which is why we asked for the phasing in so people could make the necessary adjustments once they saw what the impact of that would be."
The NYSE expects to have all of its stocks converted to the decimal system by early 2001. The Nasdaq composite index expects to convert all of its quotes to decimals by April 2001. 
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