The Securities and Exchange Commission ruled on Tuesday that the New York Stock Exchange andNasdaq did not justify previous market data fee increases, in a landmark decision that adds pressure on stock exchanges over the cost of trading data.
The five-member commission shot down a pair of requests to raise fees for certain NYSE and Nasdaq data, saying the exchanges hadn’t justified the price increases. The decision is the first time the SEC has rejected fee increases for the exchanges’ most lucrative class of stock-market data feeds. It casts doubt on a crucial source of revenue that has helped make up for declining trading-fee income.
The SEC’s decision sided with the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, or Sifma, a major financial-industry trade group that had accused the exchanges of “exploiting their monopoly over market data.” Brokers say big and small investors alike will benefit if regulators rein in skyrocketing market-data costs.
Full Content: The Wall Street Journal
