Monday afternoon, shortly before it was officially announced that shares of Janus Capital Group would stop trading pending a company announcement, the shares took a nose dive on spiking trading volume.  In other words, according to CNBC Senior Editor John Carney, a bunch of people apparently had the "inside scoop" that something was happening at Janus - before it was announced.

    The Source (Leak?).   According to the chart, Janus shares spiked downward right around 1:48 p.m. ET.  But instead of some nefarious tipster, it turns out that Bloomberg ran this headline on its terminals at 1:48 p.m. ET:  “Janus Says It Received Inquiry Calling For General Information.” 

• That information wasn’t publicly available to anyone who does not have a Bloomberg terminal.
• It wasn’t posted on Janus’s website.
• In fact, it took several minutes before it appeared in any place the general public has access to.
• So, Mr. Carney asks, did Bloomberg aid and abet insider trading?

Mr. Carney answers his own question with a resounding "NO," attributing the release to Bloomberg's right to report information as protected by the First Amendment.  He adds that it would be true even if the information is ‘non-public’ and has obviously been leaked by an insider.  And, although it’s less clearly spelled out in the constitution, the right to gate the information so that it is only available to subscribers is probably protected as well.

Which brings Mr. Carney to his penultimate question:   What’s the difference between what Bloomberg did on Janus today and what the expert networks and consultants are doing?   [CNBC.com, 11/23]