IIROC Publishes Fourth Quarter 2010 Circuit Breaker Levels

Earlier this month, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) published Notice 10-00259 relating to securities trading halts in coordination with the application of 'circuit breakers' on U.S. markets. 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 have been announced for the fourth quarter of 2010 as 1,050 points, 2,100 points and 3,150 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%) - 2,450 points and Level 3 (30%) - 3,650 points, with the effects of the triggers depending on the