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US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

reuters.com

311–320 of 491 posts

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a common complaint of value investors that boards (especially in this post-Sarbox world) are solely focused on quarterly earnings reports, to the detriment of long term strategy. One way to talk about the added and persistent value of some companies is to note that many of them have powerful, recalcitrant, or somehow anti-quarterly-cadence founders: buffet, zuck, you could make a list.

Delisting and going private is always an option if you want to go at your own pace and talk to your investors 1:1.

They would not be allowed to do so - too many shareholders. That’s why e.g. SpaceX will be going public even though Elon Musk would want to keep it private

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#313

24/7 trading sounds like a nightmare. “Your retirement savings crashed 30% because there wasn’t enough liquidity to cover a 3am panic over non-news”.

The beauty of it, though, is that it would recover almost immediately as systems arbitrage an obviously stupid situation.

Most of the time things will work as they are supposed to and arbitrage will work as a damper. Every once in a while you'll get a self-reinforcing loop and then it will work as an a run-away amplifier.

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something is coming so it's all smash and grab.

What something?

Look at the factors in play:

-8 billion human beings

-the continuing health impacts of COVID

-increased frequency and magnitude of destructive weather events

-global weather pattern shifts

-increasingly dysfunctional governments in previously stable nations

-markets dominated by players decoupled from reality

-a stock market bubble of immense proportions

-the end of the post-WWII order

-an interlinked global economy with very little resilience

-an increasing amount of war

I have no idea what shape the world that emerges from all the above is going to be, but I strongly doubt it will be better than it was. The obvious analogs seem to be the Great Depression and the World Wars.

I don't know exactly what will start the dominoes falling, but the current war in Persian Gulf has a lot of potential to do so.

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#315
post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm extremely skeptical about this. 24/7 trading will definitely burn a lot of extra energy in datacenters, make some speculators a little richer, and make a LOT of retail investors nervous… But what actual real-world problem will it solve ? I for one am skeptical that more liquidity is always good. I think that having achieved $0.01 spreads, we're well-past the point of diminishing returns with high-frequency tradin…

Right? Why do we even need all-day trading? I have seen a once-daily auction proposed, which seems like a sensible approach to me.

That wouldn't be enough liquidity, and also wouldn't solve the problem if the auction happened at a specific time. Day traders would all put in their bid at the last possible moment.

What solves the day trading problem is doing chunked actions at random small intervals (like between 2-7 seconds). Then you can't put your bid in at the last moment because you won't know when it is. So your best bet is to put in your bid when you've chosen a price, knowing that it will resolve within seven seconds or less.

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#316
post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not disconnected from reality. You just don't understand it. If the stock market didn't exist you would have less opportunities to invest in well priced companies and people would be manipulated in investing in opaque, often ridden with accounting shenanigans things like private equity. The more companies are public and subject to price discovery done by sophisticated players the better it is for uninformed play…

> people would be manipulated in investing in opaque, often ridden with accounting shenanigans things This happens even with the stock market. See every financial crisis.

Like which one? 2008 crisis was caused by reckless lending by banks as a result of silly regulation (government guaranteeing loans), implicit promise of bailouts and you could argue corruption. What does it have to do with the stock market?

It's a nice dismissing soundbite but you're just missing the broader point and real issues coming with people's money being invested in non public entities.

Besides, just because some problems also happen with solution A doesn't mean they wouldn't be worse with solution B. You are not really making a point just dismissing the idea of a public market without understanding the value of it.

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#317

Simultaneously they are opening up 0DTE options on certain stocks starting with large market caps but don't be surprised when this expands. Currently this was limited to large etfs like SPX. They are also extending trading hours towards 24/7 and eventually 365. How they square increasing liquidity with delaying information is insane. I know there is a lot of manipulation to make quarterly numbers and the tax code is…

This is a manipulation enabler. I’m surprised no one is mentioning this, but it’ll allow companies like SpaceX and Tesla to avoid scrutiny. The other changes the SEC and NASDAQ are rushing all have donors behind them. That’s how this openly corrupt administration works but it’s also how America has generally operated in the past, only to a smaller degree.

>This is a manipulation enabler.

One facet of the Trump administration that still manages to surprise me is now some action that is nakedly corrupt, or stupid, or destructive will be undertaken, and people will scramble to come up with explanations for why it might be done in good faith, or as part of some clever plan. We've been watching Donald Trump operate in national politics for over a decade (and seen him in business for far longer). Why on Earth would anyone ever give him the benefit of the doubt at this point?

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#318
Last year, I heard about this maybe coming, and here it is.

On the positive side, it removes a lot of burden from the companies as making those earnings reports 4 times per year is no joke. A lot of effort goes into it.

On the other hand, earnings reports are the only times, 4 times per year to be specific, where we can clearly see real numbers and how the company is doing vs what the company is "selling" to the public. So this inherently damages transparency, no doubt about that.

Also, rememebr all those insider trades the politicians love to do? Well, now it will be even harder to monitor.

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#319

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm fairly certain you're describing fraud.

It's not actually fraud if there is some ostensible service they're performing. Business units within businesses 'pay' each other for 'services' all the time. Ditto for subsidiaries. Whether something is fraud might come down to intent alone. The line between legal and illegal business transactions can be murky as hell.

For it to not be fraud you'd have to actually exchange services proportional to the line items. That isn't what was described. Falsifying line items to juice your numbers is fraud plain and simple.

Re: US SEC preparing to scrap quarterly reporting requirement

#320
post #99

One of my favorite stories about logistics and quarterly earnings deadlines (from when I worked at a pharmaceutical company: "In our business, a truckload of various drugs can easily reach $10-$15 million. Now, if that truck arrives at the depot at 11:59pm March 31st then it's first quarter earnings. If it arrives at 12:01am April 1st then it's second quarter earnings. $15 million is a BIG shortfall, even for us, so…

Early in my career I worked at a place where the sales people would half-joke about signing deals on December 40th -- to claim it in the previous quarter/year.

December 40th is last day of Q5.
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