Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Financial Products News #2010 - 7
NASDAQ OMX Introduces New GIDS Message Format in Support of Russell Global Indexes

What is the Global Index Data Service (GIDS) product?

NASDAQ OMX Global Index Data Service^SM (GIDS^SM) is the premier NASDAQ OMX^SM data feed that consolidates index and ETF valuation data, as well as third party partner data. GIDS offers real-time updates, daily summary messages and access to some of the most widely followed indexes and ETFs in the world.

How will GIDS be enhanced to support Russell Global Indexes?

As announced in Financial Products News #2010-004, NASDAQ OMX delayed the implementation of the Russell Global Indexes via GIDS in response to data vendor processing concerns. NASDAQ OMX completed its review of vendor feedback and determined a new implementation date for the full Russell Global Indexes data set, as well as created a new message format to report As/Of Summary messages.

Effective Monday, April 5, 2010, the new As/Of Summary message will report or replace a closing summary message that occurred earlier than the current day.

What is the new As/Of Summary Message?

NASDAQ OMX is introducing a new As/Of Summary message (Category A – Type F) that will be used to report closing prices or summary information to allow for corrections of previous day(s) closing prices or summary information. The As/Of Summary message will include an explicit as/of action and effective date field in order to facilitate the vendors processing and allow for a new As/Of Summary message to be correctly applied to historical databases.

Category A - Type F

How will the Russell Global Real-Time Indexes be affected by this enhancement?

As announced in Financial Products News #2009-054, Russell Investments selected The NASDAQ OMX Group^® as its index dissemination provider for select Russell Global Real-Time Indexes.

NASDAQ OMX has selected a new dissemination date and on Monday, April 5, 2010, NASDAQ OMX will begin disseminating the 17 real-time Russell Global Indexes in USD currency via the Tick Detail message (Category P – Type A) on GIDS. The real-time indexes will be identified as “Q” for the originator id and the index value will be updated at 15-second intervals, disseminated between 2:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) and 5:00 p.m. ET.

Please note: the Russell Global Real-Time Indexes will not be included in the current End-of-Day Summary spin. They will only be available via the As/Of Summary message.

How will Russell Global Indexes summary information be disseminated?

Effective Monday, April 5, 2010, NASDAQ OMX plans to support the new As/Of Summary message (Category A – Type F) for the Russell Global Indexes on a T+1 basis and will disseminate the As/Of Summary messages at approximately 2:00 a.m., ET, the following business day. GIDS subscribers must include the As/Of summary message data with the prior day’s index values. NASDAQ OMX will support all Russell Real-Time Global Indexes as well as Russell once-a-day global indexes via the new As/Of Summary message.

Is there any impact to existing summary messages?

No. The As/Of summary message is a new message and will not affect the current GIDS End of Day Summary Message (Category A – Type B). The End-of-Day Summary Message will continue to support current day summary message processing which currently is as follows:

• Approximately 12:30 p.m., ET: Current day summary messages for the Nordic and Baltic markets.
• Approximately 5:30 p.m. ,ET: Current day summary messages for U.S.-based indexes.

What if I do not pick up the new As/Of summary message?

NASDAQ OMX strongly recommends that all GIDS customers make the necessary coding changes to begin accepting and processing the new As/Of summary message effective on the morning of April 5, 2010.

As a result of the proprietary calculations related to the Russell Global Indexes, if a customer chooses not to make the necessary changes, the following will happen:

• All end- of-day index data associated with the 326 Russell Global Indexes will be incorrect.
• Historical databases will be inaccurate.
• Any display of this information may cause investor confusion.

Will the new As/Of Summary message affect how I receive restated index values today?

Yes, NASDAQ OMX plans to phase out, in the third quarter of 2010, the current method of providing customers with database correction notices via the Financial News Alerts emails. In order to continue to receive prior trading day correction notifications, customers must begin processing the As/Of Summary message to ensure accuracy of their historical databases. NASDAQ OMX will announce the transition plan once more information is available.

Will NASDAQ OMX offer testing opportunities?

Yes, NASDAQ OMX plans to support a minimum of one month of nightly vendor testing starting on Monday, March 1, 2010. As additional information becomes available, NASDAQ OMX will communicate via a news alert.

Will Russell Global Index End-of-Day summary data be available in any other format?

Yes. Financial Products News #2010-004, and since January 11, 2010, NASDAQ OMX has been posting the End-of-Day Summary data for 326 Russell Global Indexes, on the public NASDAQ OMX FTP server. For details on the FTP file formats, please refer to the Russell Global Index End-of-Day Summary FTP Protocol Specification document. While envisioned as a temporary solution, this will remain in-place until further notice.

Will there be an additional charge for the Russell Global Indexes on GIDS?

No. NASDAQ OMX is pleased to provide the Russell Global Indexes as part of its standard GIDS offering at no additional charge.

Where can I find additional information?

• For questions about NASDAQ OMX Information, LLC data products, please contact NASDAQ OMX Global Data Products at +1 301 978 5307 or +45 3393 3366.
• For information about the Russell Global Index family, please visit www.russell.com/indexes or contact Russell Client Service at +1 866 551 0617.
• Refer to the NASDAQ OMX Global Index product page on the NASDAQ OMX Trader^® website.