Stealing The Market: How The Great Brokerage Firms W/help From Sec Stole Stock Mkt From Investors - Softcover

Mayer, Martin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0465082246 ISBN 13: 9780465082247

Publisher: Basic Books, 1993

Synopsis

Argues that large brokerage firms are earning more for themselves and less for their clients by secretly investing using insider information

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

Forget the misleading subtitle. To Mayer (Whatever Happened to Madison Avenue, 1991, etc.), virtually all members of the US financial community have, by pursuing their own selfish interests, undermined the public purpose of securities markets--i.e., to provide reliable price information necessary to allocate the domestic economy's resources. Worse yet, Mayer charges, cops on the Wall Street beat are responding to opportunists' depredations with winks or nods. In a savvy, wide-ranging overview longer on anecdotal than statistical evidence, Mayer warns that the open, honest, and liquid markets that have contributed so greatly to American prosperity face grave dangers. With a big assist from advances in data- processing and telecommunications technology, for example, institutional investors are, he says, doing business among themselves, filling orders at prices that need not be disclosed. And with less than one fifth of their income now accruing from commissions, according to the author, brokerage houses apparently are on the game as well, trading for their own accounts--and frequently using inside information about client plans and strategies. In the meantime, Mayer cautions, the development of so- called derivative instruments (notably, options on stock indexes) and the trend to passive management of portfolios designed to mirror the performance of popular market averages have greatly increased the risks of manipulation. At best, the author argues, federal regulatory authorities have been complacent witnesses to these unfortunate events. Among other sins of commission, he cites the SEC's decision to let major institutions traffic in privately placed as well as publicly offered securities. Not surprisingly, Mayer offers a short list of needed reforms. He proposes full disclosure for all transactions involving equity in American enterprises, plus confiscatory taxes to discourage short-term trading by investment professionals. Mayer would also impose levies to create friction between futures and exchange markets that currently tend to move in lockstep. A timely and thoughtful alert on a socioeconomic problem whose implications are (or should be) of general concern. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Library Journal:

Well-known for his popular and very readable books on financial matters ( The Greatest-Ever Bank Robbery , LJ 10/1/90), Mayer presents a different perspective on the stock market, saying that the stock market no longer serves who it was meant to. He analyzes the role of the individual investor with respect to that of the large institutions, specifically brokerage firms, who in the past worked for the individual investor. Today, according to Mayer, they often work against the client by building up their own accounts at his expense. This interesting, thought-provoking, and controversial tome will appeal to many who follow stock market activities.
- Steven J. Mayover, Free Lib. of Philadelphia
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0465082246
• ISBN 13: 9780465082247
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224