|
|
|
|
|
|
|
and are not afraid to report the truth as they see it. Many reporters are not puppets of the major brokerage firms and present a fair and unbiased story for their readers. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Not much has changed since the old days. Thomas Jefferson used to say that the most truthful part of a newspaper was the advertisements. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Second Look At The Cost Of Courtesy |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The unwritten rule on Wall Street was that if news came out on a stock, a broker had a duty to extend a trading courtesy and tell the contra market maker about the recently reported news. This courtesy also may have violated the broker's fiduciary duty to work for the best interest of the customer. The customer may have been cheated because market makers were more concerned with maintaining their friendly, clublike atmosphere than with a sense of duty to the public. It was simply a case of the order clerk buying favors with your money. Courtesies like this may have cost investors millions and perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars each year. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
If news was publically disseminated and the regulators chose to keep the market open, then orders should be handled on a first come, first served basis. Who should have the benefit of information otherwise available to everyone? For example, there are only two known original Mercator projection maps in the entire world. If I find an original Mercator map in an antique store, do I have an obligation to extend the courtesy of sharing my knowledge with the owner? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To sharpen the focus and put the concept into more commercial terms, if I want to buy a snow shovel, do I have to tell the proprietor of the hardware store of a projected storm (giving the proprietor a chance to raise the price) or can I just buy the shovel at its shelf priceespecially if news of the storm has already been reported on the radio and television? |
|
|
|
|
|