New York’s attorney general reports that Thomson Reuters has agreed to immediately stop giving high-frequency traders an advance look at certain consumer survey results.
State attorney general Eric Schneiderman said Monday that Thomson Reuters was selling early access to the University of Michigan consumer survey results to high-frequency traders; giving them the data two seconds earlier than other subscribers, which, he says that this, “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 attorney general’s office says that its investigation into the scope and impact of this practice is ongoing. In the meantime, it says that the change in Thomson Reuters’ practices immediately removes this advantage for HFTs, and only allows them access to this market-moving information at the same time as its other subscribers.
“This change immediately removes a prior distortion in the markets and it sends a message that unfair timing advantages for high-frequency traders and others will not be tolerated by the attorney general,” it says.
“Promoting fairness and avoiding distortions in the securities markets is an important focus of this office,” Schneiderman adds. “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.”