In a report dated December 15, 2004, the Office of Economic Analysis of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) compared trade execution quality on the NYSE and NASDAQ using a matched sample of 113 pairs of firms. The comparison is based on six months of data from January to June 2004. The results regarding which market has the better execution quality (NYSE or NASDAQ) vary across order size, firm size, and order type. The results below are for small market orders (100499 shares) in shares of large market capitalization firms. (2 Marks)

Spread (cents)	NASDAQ	NYSE
Quoted spread	2.737	2.791
Effective spread	2.650	2.490

On the basis of the above results, address the following:

Determine whether dealers in NASDAQ shares and dealers (specialists) in NYSE shares in the particular market being discussed provided price improvements.

B. Contrast the relative performance of dealers in the two markets with regard to any price improvements.