Assume that you use a TD Ameritrade brokerage account and place your stock trades through the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Phone System, which charges a $34.99 commission per stock trade. You would like to sell $1,500 shares of Microsoft Corporation, which is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, so you check the real-time quotes through TD Ameritrade and see bid price of $57.31 and an ask price $57.33. a. What is the current bid/ask spread for Microsoft?

b. If you place the sell order and TD Ameritrade routes the order to Microsofts listing exchange, what are your likely total transaction cost? (Hint: Nasdaq is a dealer market.)