This is the most interesting story I found this morning. Another one bites the dust over controversy, as reported by Reuters.
If you are wondering about the TrendVue policy, it's simple. Teresa may hold cash and Treasury Bills while all intraday and swings trades are set up and disclosed in advance for subscribers.CBS MarketWatch's Calandra Resigns
Fri January 23, 2004 05:26 AM ET
By Jonathan StempelNEW YORK (Reuters) - Thom Calandra, the chief commentator for CBS MarketWatch and a founder of its parent company MarketWatch.com Inc. (MKTW.O: Quote, Profile, Research) , resigned amid probes into his stock trading, MarketWatch said on Thursday.
Calandra, 47, stepped down Thursday morning after becoming the target of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission informal inquiry over activities dating back to October 2002, MarketWatch spokesman Dan Silmore said.
San Francisco-based MarketWatch, which provides financial news over the Internet, said the SEC asked Calandra for records of his personal stock trades, copies of his newsletter The Calandra Report, and copies of e-mail alerts sent to newsletter subscribers. The newsletter has been terminated.
"It is good news when a news organization enforces its ethics codes and policies," said Kent Collins, chairman of the broadcast news department at the Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Missouri. "The profession of journalism needs to do more."
MarketWatch said it began investigating whether Calandra violated the company's trading and disclosure rules after learning in late December of the SEC inquiry. It said it is cooperating fully with an SEC request for relevant documents and other information.
"We regret Thom Calandra's departure," Larry Kramer, MarketWatch's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. "We are confident we have appropriate policies. What we don't know is whether they were followed."
Calandra's lawyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment. SEC spokesman John Heine declined to comment.
Earlier this month, business news network CNBC, owned by General Electric Co. (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , tightened its rules for how its employees may invest. Journalism experts said the move might spur other media companies to follow suit.
CBS, which is owned by Viacom Inc. (VIA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , and British publisher Pearson Plc (PSON.L: Quote, Profile, Research) each own about 25 percent of MarketWatch, according to MarketWatch's Web site.
MarketWatch shares on Thursday closed down 9.4 percent, or $1.03, at $9.90 on the Nasdaq.
TRADING BY JOURNALISTS
In a statement, Calandra said building MarketWatch has been "tremendously rewarding professionally, (but) it has also been stressful. And the SEC's informal inquiry adds to this stress. So I've decided to take this time off to focus on my family."
MarketWatch said the SEC last week asked for a copy of its trading policies. The company said journalists cannot trade a company's shares if they know a story about the company will be published, or within 48 hours after such a story is published.
Last November, Forbes Global magazine said Calandra in his newsletter touted Ivanhoe Energy Inc. (IE.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) (IVAN.O: Quote, Profile, Research) , a company in which he disclosed a "large" stake and had close ties to management. Calandra said he has a "very, very strong commitment to making money, making lots of money, for my audience," according to the magazine.
In a famous case involving a journalist and stock trading, former Wall Street Journal reporter R. Foster Winans was convicted in 1985 for giving advance tips on stocks he would write about in his "Heard on the Street" column.
MarketWatch went public in 1999, two years after Calandra helped found it and became its original editor-in-chief, the company said. Calandra became chief commentator in May 2001, but he stepped down as editor in March 2003 when he started his newsletter, which featured his own stock recommendations.
Reuters journalists must notify editors when they report on a company in which they or family members hold a stake. The journalists cannot trade in the company's shares within one month before or after they conduct their reporting.
(Additional reporting by Martha Graybow in New York and John Poirier in Washington)
04.01.23 08:41 #