評論
打印
Financial data
金融訊息
Seconds out
當！時間到！
Is it a crime to give people an early peek at data?
將金融訊息提早透露給他人是否違法？
Jul 13th 2013
2013年7月13日
MORE than a half century ago the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research created a well-received monthly index tracking American consumer sentiment. Until 2007 it was funded by more than 100 “supporters” who got an advanced look at the results. No one got overly upset by this. Such sangfroid is emblematic of a different era.
早在大半個世紀以前，美國密歇根大學社會研究所就曾按月發布“美國消費者信心指數”的跟蹤報告，人們反響不錯。直到2007年，共有100多位“支持者”出錢支持這份報告進行下去，回報即是提前得知報告結論。沒有人因此太過擔憂，人們鎮定的表象的原因實則是另一時代的特有標志。
In 2007 Thomson Reuters agreed to pay in excess of $1m for distribution rights to the University of Michigan index. In 2008 the information provider began sending the results out in three bursts—one a general distribution via press release; another five minutes earlier through all its terminals (which means it was reported by Reuters as well as other subscribers); and another a mere two seconds earlier but plenty long enough to be of use to a small coterie of fee-paying high-speed traders.
2007年，湯森路透同意花100多萬美元，用來拿到密歇根大學指數報告的發布權。2008年，密歇根大學發布報告結果的方式可以稱得上是“廣、頻、快”：一是通過新聞發布作為一般經銷渠道；二是提前5分鐘發送給其所有的終端接受者（也就是包括湯森路透在內的其他訂購者）；第三種，僅僅提前2秒發布：別小看這兩秒鐘，這對一小部分付了錢的快速投資者來說已經不算短了。。
Thomson Reuters suspended this third feed on July 8th in response to demands by Eric Schneiderman, New York’s attorney-general, who is conducting an investigation into the distribution of sensitive financial information. “The securities markets should be a level playing-field for all investors and the early release of market-moving survey data undermines fair play,” he said.
紐約總檢察長埃里克施奈德曼一直在調查敏感性金融訊息的發布情況。7月8日，應他的要求，湯森路透撤去了第三種“小灶”灶臺。埃里克說：“證券市場應當為所有投資者提供一個公平公正的“游戲”場所，提早泄露市場動態的調查訊息明顯破壞了游戲的公正性。”
Mr Schneiderman’s definition of “fair play” remains unclear. Why draw the line at the feed for high-frequency traders but not the one to paying subscribers, for example? Thomson Reuters says it uses the same multi-tiered distribution strategy in only one other area, the European release of a purchasing managers’ survey in conjunction with Markit, a financial-information firm. But staggered releases are common enough. The Chicago Business Barometer, another purchasing managers’ index, is distributed by Deutsche Börse, an exchange operator, to paying subscribers three minutes earlier than to the wider world, for example.
埃里克對于“游戲公正性”的定義尚不明確。這樣說吧，為什么對提前發布給高頻交易者設限卻對提前發布給訂購者卻未加干涉？另一個且是唯一的運用了相同多層分銷戰略的地區位于歐洲，即森路透與金融信息公司麥蓋提針對采購經理人調查發布報告協同合作。但是，錯時發布是很常見的做法。比如，德意志交易所散發的另一個采購經理人指數——芝加哥商業景氣指數，就為付費訂購者提供先于外部3分鐘的訊息。
The involvement of the University of Michigan raises another set of issues: you could argue that information provided by public entities like a state university should be distributed broadly to the public. The university itself contends that the consumer-sentiment survey is just one of many forms of sponsored research that would never be done at all were there not outsiders willing to subsidise it, and that its wide distribution does provide a public benefit.
由于事件涉及密歇根大學，這也引發了另外一組問題：人們認為諸如像公立大學這樣的公共實體提供的訊息應該更廣泛的告知給公眾。密歇根大學解釋說消費者信心調查只不過是眾多接受贊助研究的一項；并且談到假如沒有外部參與訂購，這些研究根本完成不了。密歇根大學又聲稱自己廣泛播撒式的發布訊息也的的確確照顧到了公眾利益。
