Completion of a securities transaction

I was doing some exciting research for our Pass the 65 ExamCram questions and ran into this concept buried in an SEC release that was referred to by a financial planning textbook--yes, my social life really can't get any more exciting at this point. In any case, I came up with this possible Series 7, 65, or 66 question:

When does the SEC consider that a securities transaction has been "completed"?
A. when the prospectus has been received
B. when a registered representative completes the order ticket and submits it to the wire room
C. when the customer gives oral authorization for the terms of the order
D. upon settlement

EXPLANATION: a securities transaction has been "completed" when it settles/clears, at which point payment has been made, and the securities have been delivered. An investment adviser, for example, must disclose that it intends to act in a 'principal' capacity on a customer transaction and get the customer's consent no later than completion of the transaction, which is settlement. Settlement is usually T + 3 business days.

ANSWER: D

Real-World Series 7

Ok, let's see if you can find the real-world significance of the following information. I just logged into my online brokerage account in order to write the previous blog post. When I reviewed the transactions over the past 14 days, I found something that illustrates an important testable point. See if you can explain the following:


07/09/2009 15:57:52 Sold 50 EQR @ 19.51 $965.48

07/10/2009 02:10:48 ORDINARY DIVIDEND (EQR) $36.19

If the stock was already sold on July 9th, why would I receive a dividend on July 10th? And, for extra credit, why is it an "ordinary" dividend?