SEC Will Review Facebook Trade Reporting Problems at Nasdaq

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it will review problems Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NDAQ) said it had reporting trades in Facebook Inc. (FB) during its first day as a publicly traded company.

“As is our practice, staff will review the incident with Nasdaq to determine its cause and steps that will be taken to address it,” John Nester, an SEC spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement today.

The pricing of the first transaction following yesterday’s $16 billion stock sale took a half hour longer than Nasdaq’s forecast. About 40 minutes later, the second-largest U.S. equities exchange operator said it was investigating an issue in reporting trades from the opening auction back to the brokerages that made them. Nasdaq later said it delivered the messages.

The SEC routinely reviews reports of trading disruptions.

Rob Madden, a spokesman for Nasdaq OMX, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joshua Gallu in Washington at jgallu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Maura Reynolds at mreynolds34@bloomberg.net

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SEC Will Review Facebook Trade Reporting Problems at Nasdaq

Scott Eells/Bloomberg

The Facebook Inc. logo at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York.

The Facebook Inc. logo at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

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May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Larry Fishelson, chief operating officer of Dynalink Communications Inc., Andre Julian, president of Trade Aviator, and Mark Sebastian, chief operating officer of Option Pit Mentoring, talk about Facebook Inc.'s first day of trading and the outlook for social-media stocks. They speak with Trish Regan on Bloomberg Television's "Street Smart." (Source: Bloomberg)