Exchanges to apply new circuit breaker rules to ETFs

The new circuit breaker rules, which were sanctioned by the SEC, require exchanges in the US to pause trading in certain individual stocks in the S&P 500, if the price moves 10 percent or more in a five-minute window. The rules will initially be implemented on a pilot basis until December 10, 2010. During this period, the SEC says markets will expand the scope to securities beyond the S&P 500, including ETFs, "as soon as practicable." SEC chairman Mary Schapiro says: "It is my hope to rapidly expand the programme to thousands of additional publicly traded companies." The rules were...