Tag Archives: Agate changes
Chicago Tribune to further trim stock listings
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The Chicago Tribune, which last year cut its stock listings during the week, has now said it will trim its weekend stock listings, according to Editor & Publisher.
The Tribune said that beginning Jan. 6, it would reduce the number of NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX and mutual fund listings, “and add richer analysis across more categories to help you make wiser investment decisions.”
The paper said after the reductions, it will publish more than 2,000 NYSE listings, more than 800 NASDAQ and AMEX issues, and more than 700 mutual funds.
Read more here. It was almost a year ago that the Tribune cut its daily stock listings.
WSJ.com to offer free stock center on web site
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The Wall Street Journal announced Monday that it will offer a free markets data center on its WSJ.com web site beginning Jan. 2.
Based on the announcement, it seems as if the Journal can be headed in two ways: It wants to take readers away from newspapers that have dropped market information from its printed paper, or it plans to do the same.
This site will provide extensive markets information and easy ways for users to put data into context. Features include quick scanning and charting capability of stocks and indexes; integrated access to market-moving headlines; and email delivery of key market information including the Journal’s closely watched Money Rates. A tour of the new Markets Data Center is available at www.wsj.com/mdctour.
The online Markets Data Center was developed in tandem with the redesign of the print Journal scheduled to debut on Jan. 2. The newly designed print Journal will provide top stocks listings and new value-added statistics that graphically communicate information and analysis. Each day for free, via the online Markets Data Center, users can screen more than 5,500 issues that trade on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq and American Stock Exchange.
“The online Markets Data Center is the new destination for monitoring the markets,� said L. Gordon Crovitz, executive vice president, Dow Jones & Co. and publisher, The Wall Street Journal. “Our aim is to help users extract the most financial information and insight with the greatest efficiency and convenience,� he said in the release.
Read more here.
Free Press reducing stock listings
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Add the Detroit Free Press to the list of newspapers that have cut their stock listings in the past year.
In recent weeks, that list has included the Washington Post, Houston Chronicle and the Seattle Times.
An item in the Free Press on Thursday stated, “The Free Press makes a change in its financial markets report starting today, reducing stock-market listings and adding new information on the automotive sector and other stocks of interest.
“The changes are in response to the way most readers get their financial information these days — on the Internet. You can check your stocks at any time at freep.com. Simply search for the ‘check your stocks’ link and follow the instructions.
“You also can visit freep.com to see the latest Michigan business news throughout the day.
“A text message service is available for cell phone users to get live stock quotes.”
Read more here.
Seattle Times cuts stock listings
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Editor at large Mike Fancher wrote in his Sunday column that the Seattle Times would cut its stock listings beginning this week.
Fancher wrote, “The Times will eliminate stock and mutual fund A-to-Z lists Tuesday through Friday. Instead, on those days, the Business Section will carry a Money & Markets page, with Northwest stock prices and key summary market numbers from the day before for stocks, mutual funds and bonds. The A-to-Z listing will continue to appear on Saturday.
“This change will be a hardship for some readers, but our research tells us that fewer and fewer of you rely on a printed newspaper to keep track of your investments. By dropping the tables, we save money on newsprint and we’re able to provide information that most investors will find more helpful than the old listings and more local information that readers can’t find elsewhere.
“‘We’re eliminating content that is available elsewhere and giving our readers what they can’t get everywhere else,’ said Becky Bisbee, Times business editor. ‘We kept the focus on Northwest stocks, with complete listings from Washington, Oregon and Idaho.’
“The new Money & Markets page will have larger type and more visual elements. Bisbee explained, ‘You can look at the page and quickly know which directions things are moving. You can see trends quickly. It’s not just eye candy, it’s informative eye candy.’”
Read more here.
Washington Post brings back some stock listings
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The Washington Post, which last week dramatically cut its published stock and mutual fund listings, is bringing some of them back at the request of its readers.
A short notice in Wednesday’s paper stated, “Starting today, we will publish trading information on 1,400 stocks and 2,100 mutual funds. The list now includes shares of the biggest companies and mutual funds, stocks issued by local companies and those stocks and funds held by a large number of Post readers.
“Full listings of individual stocks and mutual funds will continue to appear in Sunday Business. Monday’s Washington Business will continue to publish expanded data on local stocks. You can find up-to-the-minute stock quotes, mutual fund data and investing tools at http://washingtonpost.com/markets.”
Read more here. The paper had previously cut back to 1,000 stocks and 2,000 mutual funds.
Problem prevents Chicago Trib's running of mutual fund data
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This was in Friday’s paper: “Due to production issues, the Chicago Tribune did not receive the top 25 mutual funds data that normally run in this space in time for the Friday edition.
“Up-to-date mutual fund information can be found at www.chicago tribune.com/stocks. Full mutual funds listings will run in Saturday’s Business section. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
Read here.
WaPo readers respond to cut stock listings
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Jill Dutt, the assistant managing editor of financial news at the Washington Post, took questions online Tuesday about the newspaper’s decision to cut stock and mutual fund listings, beginning with this morning’s paper.
Readers pointed out errors and expressed their displeasure with the decision.
A subscriber since 1989 from Clarksville, Md., wrote, “Whoever prompted you to make the changes in today’s Business section ought to be fired.
“This hodgepodge of information, combining stocks from the three major exchanges, asking for certain stocks to be included, etc., is preposterous, and absolutely non-helpful.
“In an effort to reduce the paper size (and I understand about cutting costs) cutting this section is absolutely a BAD DECISION.”
Dutt replied, “It was a difficult decision to cut back on the financial markets listings. I believe that providing 
this data is an important reader service and have argued for years that we should not cut it. But, I had to rethink those arguments when every other major metropolitan daily newspaper cut their financial tables. The only daily newspapers I know of that still publish full listings are the Wall Street Journal and Investor’s Business Daily. Even with the cuts we made today, we still publish more price/trading information for individual stocks and mutual funds than does the New York Times, the Financial Times,USA Today, the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Times, etc.”
Then, there was this reader from the District: “I’m here to stick up for Jill and her section. In the face of mandatory cuts, they’re doing the best they can to make some kind of a logical, systemic decision.
“I don’t get why people are so up in arms about this. Stock tables are DATA, available in 100 different places online.
“Like it or not, the modern newspaper is shrinking due to budget cuts and the changing nature of the American media environment. I’d much rather have the WP use its precious X number of pages available every day to give me original reporting and analysis on local, national and international issues. Data (stock tables, sports agate, etc.) is a commodity and can be found anywhere.”
Read more here.
The onslaught continues: Houston Chronicle cuts stocks
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The Houston Chronicle joined the deluge on Tuesday, becoming the latest major metropolitan newspaper to announce that it was cutting its stock listings in an attempt to save space. Its cutting its stocks from three pages to one.
Interestingly, it had been weeks since a newspaper had announced that it was cutting stock listings. But on Tuesday, the Chronicle joined the Washington Post and the Scripps newspapers in Florida in making such a decision.
Jeff Cohen wrote, “As readers move increasingly to the Internet for real-time information on how stocks and mutual funds are performing, this move will open up space for additional business news and features.
“The new one-page Market Summary will provide a daily overview on the markets, a spotlight on energy prices, a daily feature on market activity or news affecting the market, and six snapshots of stocks in the news.
“And over the next few weeks, the Chronicle will roll out new features and expanded business coverage, including:
•More in-depth energy coverage — in print and online daily — from the Chronicle’s expanded team of energy reporters.
•More coverage of the Houston legal community, including a regular column.
•Increased coverage of personal finance and financial news.
•And continued expansion of Houston real estate coverage.
To track your stocks and mutual funds, go online to chron.com/markets, where you can customize a portfolio to follow your investments and get in-depth stock market information
Read more here.
Florida papers joining those cutting stock listings
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The Scripps Howard newspapers along the East Coast of Florida, which include the Stuart News, the Vero Beach Press Journal and the Fort Pierce Tribune, stated in Tuesday’s newspapers that they are cutting their stock listings.
Business editor Hugo Ottolenghi stated, “For that reason, we are reducing the number of stock and mutual fund listings that appear in print Tuesday through Friday. The first phase begins today with mutual fund and American Stock Exchange listings and will continue until the start of the year when we will introduce a new design for stocks and funds on those days.
“You still will receive on Saturday the same weekly roundup of stock and mutual fund information.
“If you like to check stocks and funds every day, you’ll continue to find the most widely held listings in this section Tuesday through Friday.
“On our Web site, tcpalm.com, you can create a portfolio and check its value every minute.”
Read more here.
More than 2,600 readers complain about cut stock listings
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Deborah Howell, the ombudsman for the Washington Post, noted in her Saturday column that more than 2,600 “vociferous” readers complained about the decision by the paper to cut its stock listings this week.
Howell wrote, “The Post may be the last big newspaper to be doing this; most did so years ago. And most stockholders get listings online. The Post, unlike a lot of other newspapers, is offering to restore some stocks at readers’ requests and has left room for at least 200 additions.
“Jill Dutt, assistant managing editor for financial news, said, ‘Even with the cuts, we still publish more price/trading information for individual stocks and mutual funds than does the New York Times or the Financial Times. We will keep for now our full listings in Sunday Business. But trimming there also is not off the table. I considered and rejected going the way that some newspapers have gone: eliminating trading data for all but the 100 largest stocks or the 100 local stocks and instead publishing only trends and summaries of market activities overall. I see news value in publishing as many daily price change quotes as we can.’ Dutt will e-mail anyone who writes to stocks@washpost.com a short guide to tracking their investment portfolios through washingtonpost.com.
“That didn’t satisfy a reader from Olney, who told Dutt in a washingtonpost.com chat: ‘For me and for so many other Washington Post customers, Nov. 14, 2006, is the day that The Washington Post died. What
numbskull thought that to save newsprint costs, it would be wise to perform a slash and burn edit of the stock tables. In this new reduced format, they are useless.’
“Edward Wasserman, Knight professor of journalism ethics at Washington and Lee University, disagrees: ‘I’ve always viewed stock tables as one of the more dubious things that newspapers offer. They really are little more than promotional material for stockbrokers. . . . Plus, they’re of interest to only a fraction of the readership, and they keep alive the fiction that the stock market is a surrogate for the economy. . . . I’ll be glad to see the end of all printed stock tables.’”
Read more here.