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Technology Stocks : HWP -- Hewlett Packard -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Xpiderman who wrote (3296)	10/28/1999 9:14:00 AM
From: Road Walker	Respond to of 4722

X, re: "Did someone know about the problems at HP in advance?" "The company did not make a formal announcement but confirmed late in the day that it had spoken individually to different analysts, and told them that weak North American server sales could weigh on results for the fourth quarter, which ends October 31." This is the "selective exposure" that Arthur Levitt, chairman of the SEC, was speaking about: "Let me turn to another important issue in the area of analyst communications: selective disclosure. The behind-the-scenes feeding of material non-public information from companies to analysts is a stain on our markets. This selectiveness is a disservice to investors and it undermines the fundamental principle of fairness. In a time when instantaneous and free flowing information is the norm, these sort of whispers are an insult to fair and public disclosure. .. Unfortunately, there is no simple regulatory or legal fix to this problem. But the Commission is planning to take action where it can. Within the next few months, we will consider proposing rules to close the gap between those in the so-called "know" and the rest of us in the public." Full text of speech, worth reading is at: sec.gov Yes, things have become much better than the old days. But, there are also many more (out-of-the-know) "retail" investors, and participation in the market is at an all time high. Note the very high number of HWP puts traded yesterday. Note the high volume sell off. Selected analysts were given market moving information, not available to the general public, throughout the day. What did they do with this information? I would guess that it first went to their largest clients, who used it to save money/make money at the expense of other HWP shareholders. Could the company have handled this better, for instance with a press release? Yes. Off my soapbox, John