Nasdaq OMX has acquired machine-readable news company RapiData, getting Nasdaq into the business of providing trading firms and financial institutions with the latest government and economic news. RapiData delivers economic indicators directly to market participants as soon as the data becomes available so firms can incorporate macroeconomic news into their trading strategies. RapiData’s offerings would be a welcome addition to Nasdaq’s existing lineup of data products and services, according to Brian Hyndman, SVP for Nasdaq OMX global data products.  While RapiData's speed  is comparable to that of competitors, he expects Nasdaq to combine its expertise to ensure that RapiData is the fastest in the industry going forward. Currently, RapiData has access to more than 3 dozen U.S. economic indicators and other economic data, including a wide variety of statistics from the Departments of Labor, Treasury and Commerce.  Based on client demand, Nasdaq's new service could add other data types - e.g., corporate earnings, unstructured news events and possibly even social networking information. To date, many HFT (high frequency trading) firms have backed away from strategies using machine readable news, they could come back to those strategies, especially if additional content becomes available in a machine-readable format. Terms of the acquisition weren't disclosed, but it was a fairly small deal for Nasdaq.   [Traders Mag, 12/21/11]