Google and the London Stock Exchange do a deal to provide free, real-time data to you.
In the latest in a long line of transatlantic tie-ups, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG.US) has teamed up with the London Stock Exchange (LSE: LSE).
Free trading data for private investors
In an announcement on Tuesday morning, the world's fourth-largest stock exchange (after the US, China and Japan) confirmed that it has joined forces with our favourite search engine.
The two companies have signed a data agreement allowing Google users access to free, real-time trading data from the LSE and Borsa Italiana, its Italian subsidiary. Previously, these data were available only with a 15-minute delay, so Google Finance users are being upgraded from the recent past to the fast-moving present.
This has come about as part of the LSE's "on-going commitment to making core real-time data services as accessible as possible to retail investors around the world." As a result, this free service on Google is sure to attract private investors without access to real-time, 'Level 1' trading data.
Jarod Hillman, the LSE's Head of Real-Time Data, commented, "This partnership between [the] LSE and Google is great news for retail investors across the globe. For the first time, Google users will have access to free, real-time last-trade prices, allowing them to make more informed investment decisions."
Maxim Edelman of Google's Strategic Partnerships arm, added,
"Since the launch of Google Finance in 2006, we have worked hard to provide Google users with the best financial information. The addition of real-time quotes from the London Stock Exchange and Borsa Italiana will enable our users to better monitor market changes, manage their portfolios and track economic and financial developments in Europe."
A win-win-win deal
This deal is a triple winner for these reasons:
- First, the LSE wins, because it gets licensing fees for allowing the search engine to use its live trading data.
- Second, Google wins, because, after six years of providing delayed data, Google Finance now provides real-time trading data, making its service more attractive to users.
- Third, private investors win, as those who don't already have real-time trading data (or are unhappy with their current provider) can switch their portfolios and watch lists to Google free of charge.
Without real-time trading data, investors are 'behind the market' and, therefore, at risk of being left for dead by sudden spikes or plunges in share prices and trading volumes. When it comes to stock markets, 'fortune favours the fastest'!
Hence, this tie-up could draw UK users away from rival financial websites, such as Bloomberg, CNN Money, MSN, Reuters and Yahoo! Finance. Hence, I suspect that several of Google's rivals will follow suit by signing up with the LSE.
Finally, Google is the world's premier manager of real-time data. For example, it can already predict disease epidemics by tracking search data. Thus, I suspect that it's possible for the search engine to build an algorithm to predict short-term changes in share prices using its own data feeds.
In effect, by crunching how we use these data, Google could see the financial future.
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