IIROC Publishes Circuit Breaker Levels For Q1 2012

Yesterday, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) published Notice 12-0001 relating to securities trading halts in coordination with the application of "circuit breakers" on U.S. markets for the first quarter of 2012. In the U.S., trading halts occur based on trigger levels of 10%, 20% and 30% drops of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, calculated at the beginning of each quarter using the previous month's average closing value. The NYSE thresholds for Q1 2012 are 1,200 points, 2,400 points and 3,600 points respectively.

It is IIROC's policy that it will coordinate trading halts with U.S. markets, but for days when Canadian markets are open and American markets are closed, IIROC has published related triggers based on drops in the S&P/TSX Composite Index. The TSX trigger levels are: Level 1 (10%) - 1,200 points; Level 2 (20%) - 2,350 points and Level 3 (30%) - 3,550 points, and result in trading halts ranging from 30 minutes to the balance