NYS AG says leaks of stock analysts' reports examined

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Friday he is examining the leaking of stock analysts' reports to some investors, which undercuts most investors.

"In the area of high-frequency trading, we're still a couple of steps behind" the traders, Schneiderman told the Society of American Business Editors and Writers meeting in Manhattan.

"We're looking at issues related to early access to analysts' information [by investors] and a whole variety of other things. I can't identify any specific targets," he said.

In July, Schneiderman reached agreement with Thomson Reuters for it to stop providing a key economic index to some investors, for a fee, that is released publicly minutes later for free. The index, from the University of Michigan, measures consumer confidence, which can indicate changes in consumer spending.

One of Schneiderman's predecessors as attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, prosecuted analysts for touting stocks that privately they said were duds.