Peeking early

摘要

Data releases stir emotions as well as moving markets. Concerns have grown about trading firms getting early peeks of certain releases. The case causing the biggest fuss is a widely watched consumer-sentiment index distributed by Thomson Reuters under a contract with the University of Michigan. Mark Rosenblum, a former Thomson salesman, claims he was fired after querying whether the release violated insider-trading laws because it went to highspeed traders, paying $6,000 a month for their feeds, two seconds before regular subscribers saw it. The firm says he was sacked for falsely claiming credit for sales. It is trying to get his wrongful-termination suit dismissed because he took his case to the fbi, not the Securities and Exchange Commission (sec), and so does not qualify as a whistleblower.