New York AG Eric T. Schneiderman has an agreement with Thomson Reuters which is designed to level the field for those playing the stock market. Frequent traders will no longer get access to key consumer sentiment info two seconds ahead of everybody else.
The information is the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey which comes out every two weeks and has the ability to influence the direction of the stock market. High-frequency traders was paying TR to get this info the scant two seconds ahead of the survey’s general release.
And according to the AG’s office, the two-second advantage is significant. It stated, “That two second advantage is more than enough time for these traders to take unfair advantage of their early access to this information as they execute enormous volumes of trades in the blink of an eye.”
The matter isn’t over yet – the investigation into the “scope and impact” of such a service in still in progress.
“Promoting fairness and avoiding distortions in the securities markets is an important focus of this office” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “The securities markets should be a level playing field for all investors and the early release of market-moving survey data undermines fair play in the markets.”
