Dennis Byron

False Data Clobbers the Markets

Great perspective. However the alternative to not releasing preliminary data is trading by insiders (not necessarily management but just those that know sooner than others). Transparency trumps perfect timing.

In my little niche, the software market, we see a variation all the time. It's not a matter of false data but no data. The pundits say:
-- Microsoft is in an end-game state (except that it is growing as fast or faster than all the other leading software suppliers except Google and is active in all the likely future technology trends, not just Search, leading in some of them)
-- SaaS is taking over the software world (except there is no data to back up that claim even though SasS--nee ASP--has been out there for 10 years, or more depending on how you count)
-- Cloud computing is the next big thing (except it has been around for 50 years)