NEW YORK, N.Y.— December 10, 2002 – The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. (NASDAQ) today applauded President George W. Bush’s selection of William Donaldson to serve as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We strongly support the President’s nomination of Bill Donaldson as SEC Chief,” said Wick Simmons, Chairman and CEO of NASDAQ.   “Bill has the right combination of government, business and Wall Street experience to reassure investors of the general health of our securities markets.  He will hit the ground running.  We look forward to working closely with him and the SEC team.”  

NASDAQ (OTCBB: NDAQ) is the world's largest electronic stock market.   With approximately 3,800 companies, NASDAQ lists more companies and trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market.  Over the past five years, NASDAQ has outpaced all other U.S. markets in listing IPOs.  It is home to category-defining companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, financial services, media and biotechnology industries.  NASDAQ is a key driver of capital formation. For more information about NASDAQ, visit the NASDAQ Web site at www.nasdaq.com or the NASDAQ Newsroom^SM at www.nasdaq.com/newsroom.