Call it a sign of the times: In an effort to keep companies listed amid market volatility, the New York Stock Exchange has temporarily suspended the application of its stock-price criteria and extended the temporary lowering of its market-capitalization standard for listed companies.

The Exchange has suspended until June 30, 2009, the application of its stock-price standard, which applies to stocks whose average closing price falls below $1 over a consecutive 30-day trading period, according to a rule filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It also extended a previously announced lowering of its minimum global market capitalization requirement to $15 million from $25 million, which would’ve expired on April 22.

In a press release announcing the moves, Scott Cutler, NYSE Euronext EVP and Head of Listings for the Americas, noted that the overall market downturn has deepened since NYSE first enacted the easing of the market-capitalization standard on Jan. 23, causing an even larger number of stocks to fall below its requirements.

“We are taking proactive measures to ensure that the stocks of NYSE-listed companies can remain listed in the current difficult market conditions, enabling them to be available to the investing public during this period,” Cutler said in a press release.