The New York Stock Exchange will temporarily lower the minimum listing standard market capitalization from US$25 million to US$15 million, the exchange said Friday.

The exchange said that as equities markets have experienced extreme volatility and an overall decline in trading prices, the number of companies failing to maintain an average global market cap of US$25 million over a 30 trading-day period has been significantly higher than the historical norm.

It says it believes that, in many cases, these companies have experienced precipitous stock price declines because of these unusual market conditions, rather than company-specific problems. “The exchange believes that these companies remain suitable for continued listing and that their market capitalizations will likely increase as the current market turbulence passes,” it says.

“This temporary lowering of the 30 trading-day average market capitalization requirement will enable companies of suitable size and quality to remain listed during current difficult market conditions,” said Richard Ketchum, chief executive officer, NYSE Regulation, Inc. “All of the NYSE’s other continued listing criteria will continue to apply during this period.”

So, the exchange has chosen to temporarily lower this listing standard rather than to impose a complete moratorium on application of the standard because it continues to believe that, even at this time, companies whose market cap deteriorates to a level below US$15 million are not suitable for continued listing.

IE