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Gold futures dropped in milliseconds before ISM report
By marketwatch
About 90 milliseconds before the 10 a.m. release of an upbeat Institute for Supply Management report about U.S. service-sector companies, the price of gold futures and gold ETFs fell.
Specifically, at 9:59:59 and 904 milliseconds, gold for December delivery GCZ3 -0.97% dropped almost $2 a contract, from $1308.90 to $1307.00. The ETF SPLD Gold Trust GLD 0.20% experienced a similar drop.
The move came right before ISM released a report stating that U.S. service-sector companies expanded at a sharply faster pace in July. The ISM said its survey of purchasing managers – the executives who buy supplies for their companies – climbed to 56.0% last month from 52.2% in June. Gold ended $8 an ounce lower.
In June, Thomson Reuters TRI -0.41% reportedly accidentally released the ISM manufacturing survey to a small group of traders milliseconds before others received it.
“Dollar-wise it was a pretty significant move,” said Eric Hunsader, director at Nanex, a provider of real-time data to traders. ISM did not return a call for comment.
The drop comes as the Securities and Exchange Commission is under pressure to take action to limit high-speed computerized traders, with retail investors expressing concern about fairness in the markets
It also comes as regulators have begun examining the practice of high-speed trading firms paying large fees to get early access to market-moving data.
In July Thomson Reuters agreed to stop offering early access to the University of Michigan’s consumer survey results, responding to an investigation by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
– Ronald D. Orol
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