2013-07-12 – London
Should market data be universally and equally accessible?
Questions are being raised about the fairness of preferential disclosure of data in stock market trading. Thomson Reuters will no longer distribute results from consumer surveys a couple of seconds early to fee paying clients after the New York State Attorney General requested the suspension.
Whilst releasing data 2 seconds early may seem inconsequential to many, current stock market trading is dominated by automated computer systems that make trades in milliseconds. Therefore a 2 second advantage can allow traders to profit as their automated software makes huge numbers of trades before data is publicly released.
The New York Times has revealed that Thomson Reuters pays for exclusive access to the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers data and in-turn charges clients to access this data just seconds before it becomes publicly available. The New York State Attorney General is investigating the early data access and is looking at whether preferential disclosure of data is a fair and appropriate business practice.
