The trend, previously unreported, could help explain what happened on the afternoon of Dec. 5, when Ulta Salon Cosmetics & Fragrance Inc., ULTA -3.73% a cosmetics retailer based in Bolingbrook, Ill., released its earnings. At 4 p.m. EST, Ulta’s stock was changing hands for about $122 a share. Business Wire issued the company’s earnings, which missed analysts’ forecasts, about 150 milliseconds after 4 p.m., according to a person familiar with the timing of the release. A millisecond is one-thousandth of a second.
Within about 50 milliseconds, nearly $800,000 of Ulta’s stock was sold on stock exchanges in a series of rapid trades. But major news wires hadn’t yet distributed Ulta’s earnings, according to the news wires. Bloomberg News issued the release 242 milliseconds after 4 p.m. Dow Jones issued it 464 milliseconds after 4 p.m. Thomson Reuters Corp. TRI.T -0.08% issued the release about one second after 4 p.m.
About 700 milliseconds after 4 p.m., Ulta’s stock reached its closing price of $118 a share on the Nasdaq Stock Market, NDAQ -1.52% which incorporated the orders placed immediately after Business Wire and other news services distributed Ulta’s earnings, according to data analyzed by Nanex LLC, a market-data provider, and people familiar with the trading. Stocks often settle a few tenths of a second after 4 p.m. as Nasdaq’s computer systems seek to reconcile all trades.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304450904579367050946606562
SO your saying someone analyzed pages of earnings in 50 milliseconds and dumped 800,000. shares... please bud.. just because the WSJ or NYT WP create a narrative doesn’t mean its true.
The financial industries make 6% of GDP in fees and charges.. that’s allot of coin. and they have a ton to loose if the individual investor no longer needs to buy there shitty mutual funds and bond funds etc.. Technology has advanced where you the individual can do it yourself and be ten times more successful then some idiot in a suit selling you a line and taking there 2, 3, 4% from you a year.