The WSJ says that shares of the London Stock Exchange, which have nearly doubled in response to the NASDAQ acquisition proposal, may rise still more to reflect the "growing listings businesses for companies that want to sell their shares outside the U.S., where they aren't subjected to tough U.S. Sarbanes-Oxley financial-reporting rules." More here.

So the value of the LSE depends partly on SOX. Maybe good for LSE, and for NASDAQ if the acquisition goes through, but not necessarily for the rest of the US securities industry.