On February 24, 2010, the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission ("SEC") adopted a new rule to restrict short
sales under certain circumstances. Under the new rule, a circuit
breaker will be imposed once the price of a security drops by 10%
from the previous trading day's closing price. The measure is
intended to prevent short sales from being made once the circuit
breaker is triggered, unless the price of the short sale exceeds
the then current national best bid price. The restrictions remain
in place through the end of the following trading day.
The rule applies to all "national market system
securities", or essentially all securities (of both U.S. and
foreign issuers) listed on a U.S. national stock exchange,
including NASDAQ, regardless of whether the sale takes place on an
exchange or over the counter. The rule does not apply to securities
where U.S. trading is limited to the OTC Bulletin Board or other
over-the-counter markets. The rule requires each U.S.
