SEC Announces Early Results of Penny Quoting Pilot Program
Today the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced results from the Penny Quoting Pilot program mandated in January 2007 to test the theory that penny pricing may reduce trade costs for investors by slimming the potential for market makers to earn a spread between options prices. According to the SEC, the tests did result in lowered trading costs for retail trades.In a press release this morning, the SEC said an analysis of reports from the options exchanges by the Commission's Office of Economic Analysis indicate that the Pilot has been successful in narrowing average quoted spreads, which enables investors to…