Years ago, and while at a dinner in New York City, the subject of “insider trading” came up. A woman who had formerly worked in Royal Dutch Shell’s headquarters had an interesting anecdote to convey about trading on material non-public information (MNPI). She’d worked in accounting for Shell, and as such was privy to its quarterly earnings before investors were.
Her story was that she, along with several other employees, would make small inter-office wagers every quarter on what the stock-market’s reaction would be to the numbers. The guesses were all over the place, and usually wrong.
About this story, it will be said up front that the markets and economy would be much more vibrant if they got rid of undefinable “insider trading” laws altogether. The more informed the markets are, the much better. What a backwards, confused world we live in that something so additive to market and economic health is so demonized.
Read Full Article »
