From: thompson@atlas.socsci.umn.edu (T. Scott Thompson)
Subject: Apology. Was: I need information on how to obtain stock quotations through internet.
Keywords: stocks, information
Reply-To: thompson@atlas.socsci.umn.edu
Organization: Economics Department, University of Minnesota
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 23:14:50 GMT

thompson@atlas.socsci.umn.edu (T. Scott Thompson) writes:

>matthew@remus.rutgers.edu (matthew bernardini) writes:

>>I am looking for a way to find out current stock prices over internet.
>>The reason is the following:
>>    I joined the AT&T Collegic Investment Challenge.  They limit every
>>participant to 50 transactions and a current price quote counts as half
>>a transaction (with a buy or sell counting as a whole transaction).
>>Obviously, it would be a great competitive advantage to get current
>>prices without calling the "broker".  

>Sure would be.  I would call it cheating.

I humbly offer a public apology to Mr. Bernardini.  My accusation was
based upon the assumption that AT&T wanted all players in their
contest to work from positions of equal resources.  Clearly I was
mistaken, as Mr. Bernardini made clear in the following e-mail message
(posted here with his permission):

> Well, I think perhaps I left out a few details.  You can gain all
> kinds of competitive advantages in the game if you are willing to pay
> for them.  AT&T has commercialized this to death, and I am starting to
> get a little disappointed.  If you call their 900 number for the low,
> low price of 95 cents per minute you can get whatever kind of
> information you want.  In fact they have collected stats, made their
> own indexes, and will even "hint" at what stocks to buy on this 900
> line.  If you stay on the line long enough they tell you the most
> actively traded stocks in the game and what the top ten players are
> doing.  Only of course if you happen to be paying 95 cents a minute.
> (on top of the 50.00 entry fee).  The only time information is limited
> is when you call the 800 number they pay for, out of their pocket and
> then restrictions apply.  They limit the amount of an investment to
> 200,000 dollars, and you have a million to invest.  So, you have to
> use at least five transactions just to get started.  Buying penny
> stocks is obviously the place where the most profits can be made given
> the value restriction I mentioned above.  As I am sure you are aware,
> their value can fluctuate wildly during the day, and I thought it
> might be a good idead to have an idead how they moved during the day
> as well as over the long haul.

> Just as an aside AT&T is losing alot of money on this game this year.
> I got a postcard saying that for $29.99 I could open a second account,
> over $20.00 off the original price.  If I can get my friends and my
> family to play I get a fifteen dollar incentive payment.

> I prefer to call my self resourceful, not a cheater.

The charges on AT&T's (900) line, together with their obvious (if
futile) attempts to profit from the contest, are incompatible with any
notion of fairness that I would apply to a contest of this kind.

In an attempt to make ammends, here is some information that I pulled
out of the FAQ for newsgroup misc.invest:

--------------------------------------------------
~Subject: Sources for Historical Stock Information
Answerers: bakken@cs.arizona.edu, nfs@princeton.edu, gary@intrepid.com,
           discar@nosc.mil, irving@Happy-Man.com

There are no free sources for historical stock information on the Internet.

Paid services include:
    + Prodigy.  US$13/month for basic service includes 15 minute delayed
      quotes on stocks at NO additional charge.  
      Available via local dial-up all over the US.

    + Compuserve.  US$7.95/month for basic service includes 15 minute delayed
      quotes on stocks and options at an additional charge.
      Available via local dial-up all over the US.

    + Farpoint. ($4 or $8/week for an IBM-compatible diskette) provides daily
      high, low, close, and volume for for approximately 6000 stocks.  They
      offer historical data from 1 July 89 to present.  Write to Farpoint,
      3412 Milwaukee Avenue, Suite 477, Northbrook, Illinois 60062.

    + Historical Data Services in Kansas City, MO.  They carry stock quotes,
      commodities, indexes, mutual funds.  Daily stock quotes, per year: $0.75
      Contact them at 800-677-7369.

    + Standard & Poor's Compustat (most complete and most expensive).

    + Disclosure's "Compact Disclosure" on CD (only $6,000 a year).

    + Value Line's Database 

Bulletin Boards for historical stock information include:
    + The Farpoint BBS in Chicago keeps about 3 years back data on a
      boatlaod of stocks.  Free use up to 2 hours a day, they ask for
      a contribution.  Quotes updated weekly.  [ Phone number? ]

    + The Business Center BBS in San Diego carries most issues on the
      NYSE, NASDAQ, and AMEX.  It is free but limits on-line time to
      20 minutes.  Phone number is +1 (619) 482-8675.
--
T. Scott Thompson              email:  thompson@atlas.socsci.umn.edu
Department of Economics        phone:  (612) 625-0119
University of Minnesota        fax:    (612) 624-0209