In-Reply-To: <950509103554_112267806@aol.com>
Message-ID: 
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Status: O
X-Status: 



On Tue, 9 May 1995 JohnnyHar@aol.com wrote:

> Hi Rex
> 
> I have read your comments for some time and like your contributions to this
> newsgroup.  I am curious to know if you have any opinions, insights as to the
> future of data - your org S&P/ M H is a big supplier to the securities
> business - I am curious with Edgar (SEC data) - how high are the barriers to
> entry in that side of the business?

Let's put it this way, if you can afford a T1 link, and the 20Gig drives, 
and the indexing software, you can put up your own server (Inside your 
firewall) for very cheap.

The edgar filings are large and bulky, but the investment community likes 
to browse the content for certain characteristics.  Edgar is the the 
DBMA's nightmere/nirvana.  Since almost every field can be isolated, 
indexed, and normalized, searches can get very wierd.

> On a data -> Information -> knowledge pyramid where o you see your
> oganization?  

All three (of course :-).  We have news-alert as raw information, 
MarketScope Stats pages, mostly data, and Stock Reports - expert analysis 
by the top analysts in the world.

> I must say I am from the securities business - and compustat still has a lock
> on the data from our perspective.  Access to the data is competitive, and PC
> + is behind.  

The key factor here is time.  Some information has deadlines by the 
hour.  In some cases, an investor or broker needs real information within 
a 90 seconds as key stocks start shifting rapidly.  Was it a press 
announcement, a financial event (Chapter 11s...) a federal filing...

On the trading floor, they must get information fast, from hundreds of 
sources.  The banks have a bit more time (5-10 minutes) to determine 
whether a margin-call is in order, or whether margin should be extended.
Stock Reports and Market Scope give a view of the overall solvency of the
underlying equity (it's amazing how many people will sell a good stock 
because of a rumor).

Then you have the institutional investors with large complex portfolios.  
They need to pour through earnings, industry news, and company news.  The 
generally think in the long term 5-10 days.

An emerging market for us is the financial advisor.  These are people who 
essentially sit at home and research all day.  They find the little 
tidbits that can point out markets with exponential growth potential so 
early in the game that they can sell buy long on the IPOs :-).  Imagine 
owning Informix or Sybase in 1989 (when Oracle was "king" but service was 
poor), or Cisco, MCI, and PSI in 1993 (a week after they won the NSF bid).

The financial advisor will be more important as the "baby boomers" seek 
to maximize their IRAs and 401k's in the years before retirement.  As the 
leading edge boomers get their golden handshakes, many are becoming very 
astute investors in markets that are on a clear exponential growth path.

> I hope I am not asking questions so far away from your area of work that you
> will not respond.  It is an interesting development and could make for an
> interesting dialogue.

Actually, this is what I've been doing for quite a while now.

> Thanks - John Harper


From rballard@cnj.digex.net Tue May  9 20:38:49 1995