Washington, DC, August 10, 2000 - The Securities and Exchange Commission today approved a new rule that would end the practice of selective disclosure, whereby officials of public companies provide important information to Wall Street insiders prior to making the information available to the general public. The Commission also approved two new rules to clarify existing insider trading law.

SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt said, "High quality and timely information is the lifeblood of strong, vibrant markets. It is at the very core of investor confidence. Regulation FD will bring all investors, regardless of the size of their holdings, into the information loop where they belong."

Chairman Levitt said that the Commission received more than 6,000 comment letters from the public and that most were from individual investors concerned about fairness in the markets. The final rule reflects issues raised during the comment process. The changes are detailed on the attached fact sheet.