Editorial: More openness aids all market investors

Sunday, Oct. 24, 1999 | 10:28 a.m.

Securities & Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt, speaking on Monday before the Economic Club of New York, renewed his call for giving stock investors access to quality information. Levitt said there's been much talk about ending barriers to competition and requiring electronic links to competing markets, but "it's nothing more than an academic exercise if investors can't rely on the quality of the underlying financial information."

On the same day Levitt was emphasizing protection of investors, the SEC halted trading in Las Vegas Entertainment Network Inc. stock after questions arose about the company's finances and its $95 million takeover bid for slot route operator Jackpot Enterprises. The SEC's move was prompted in part by LVEN's news releases, which suggested it had the ability to complete the Jackpot Enterprises deal even though, as the Sun's Gary Thompson reported, in recent months the company increasingly had been in a precarious financial condition.

It remains to be seen whether the SEC moved quickly enough in the LVEN case. But Levitt is correct that as the pace quickens in today's markets, it becomes even more imperative that tough regulations be in place to make sure that investors have the solid information they need to make sound investment decisions.