21.   The Big Board changed the trading halt rules last year.

22.   The New York Stock Exchange filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for approval to shorten trading halts during steep declines in the U.S. stock market.

23.   The National Association of Securities Dealers and the Securities and Exchange Commission subsequently slapped trading halts on Comparator pending details about that devaluation.

24.   The NASD official, who was not named, responded by recommending that the trade be resubmitted to inaccurately show it had taken place before the trading halt.

25.   The New York Stock Exchange board approved a proposal to shorten trading halts designed to stop trading during steep declines in the U.S. stock market.

26.   The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a plan to shorten the trading halts that U.S. stock exchanges would impose if share prices plunge.

27.   The Securities and Exchange Commission approved a plan to shorten U.S. stock exchange trading halts that would be imposed should markets fall steeply.

28.   The Securities and Exchange Commission urged U.S. stock exchanges to raise the levels of market declines that trigger trading halts to reflect the recent surge in stocks.

29.   The trading halt was a joint decision of the company and the Nasdaq Stock Market, said Nasdaq spokesman Reid Walker.

30.   This time, considering the first-time trading halts on the New York Stock Exchange, and the intense attention to volatility worldwide, Merrill took the plunge.