Word Spy - rumourtrage

rumourtrage

(roo.mur.TRAHJ) n. The practice of spreading false or misleading information about a company to take advantage of the subsequent move in the company's stock price. Also: rumortrage. [Blend of rumour and arbitrage.]

Example Citations:

NICK SHERRY: Arising from the recent market turbulence, concerns have been raised that some market participants both here and abroad have been spreading false or misleading information in respect of certain securities. In order to take advantage of artificial changes in their price, induced by the rumours.

This practice is sometimes referred to as "rumourtrage" and numerous members of corporate Australia have raised examples of this with me over the last year, some minor but I'd have to say, some simply shocking that in normal times people would shrug their shoulders and not take any particular notice of.
—"Govt looks to crackdown on 'rumourtrage'," Australian Broadcast Corporation Transcripts, November 19, 2008

Rumourtrage is the practice of spreading false or misleading information in respect of securities in order to take advantage of artificial changes in market prices.
—"At a glance," Lawyers Weekly, November 28, 2008

Earliest Citation:

It was inevitable that a takeover tussle so replete with media and marketing types would give the Wall Street lexicon some new lingo.

Take "rumourtrage". It is the game of moving share prices on whispers without real data. ...

For its part, Paramount closed on Thursday at $US58.5, down US75c, suggesting the market was slightly cooler for the day on the "rumourtrage" that had moved its shares up and down between $US51 and $US61 over the past two weeks.
—Phillip McCarthy, "Hype and 'rumourtrage overwhelm Wall Street," Sydney Morning Herald, June 24, 1989

Category:

Stock Market and Investing

Posted on January 15, 2009