Wireless Access of Stock Quotes Has Effect on Buying, Selling

CINCINNATI — Thanks to new technology that allows wireless users to access the Internet, people can obtain a phenomenal amount of information even when they're away from the home or office. The new Mobile Web service from Verizon Wireless, for example, offers customers access to e-mail, information services, mobile-originating messaging and address book and calendar functions right through their wireless phones.

But perhaps the most popular information sought by this new generation of users is stock quotes.

"Mobile Web customers surf the 'net for a variety of information, but among the most common is to retrieve stock quotes," says Carol McDowell, Sales Support Director for Verizon Wireless. "It's understandable, given the profile of the typical wireless phone user, the amount of people who are now stock market investors and the recent volatility of the market."

Stock market experts say this unfettered access to up-to-the-second information is poised to make investing a whole new ballgame.

"The availability of instantaneous stock information is having a huge impact on the market," said Mark Hawthorne, vice president of investments at Robert W. Baird, Inc. He says that investors who rely heavily on such information tend to be males who are "average players."

"Having instantaneous information can be a really good thing, because it's often in an investor's best interest to be ahead of the curve," Hawthorne said. "In trading, five minutes can make all the difference, let alone 20 minutes."

Dan Kanabrowski cautions that instant access to stock market information shouldn't dramatically alter tried-and-true approaches to investing. "Investing is not a day-to-day, or even month-to-month, proposition," said the full-service broker from Gradison McDonald. "The idea is long-term growth, which is always better than huge gains and huge losses throughout the year."

Services available through Verizon Wireless allow Mobile Web users to set-up a personal portfolio of stocks that is monitored throughout the day and can be retrieved at the touch of a button.

While acknowledging the positive aspects of instant information, Kanabrowski cautions investors not to concentrate too much on the short-term. "These days, investors are starting to think of tomorrow as long-term," he says.

Hawthorne agrees. "Instant information can make investors more trigger happy," he says. "They react with more emotion. If they're a seller, they may sell too soon. If they're a buyer, they may buy too soon.

"Just as many people are losing money on the stock market as ever before," he says, "with 10-times the information available."

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless is the largest wireless communications provider in the U.S. with more than 25 million wireless voice and data customers and nearly 4 million paging customers. The new coast-to-coast wireless provider was formed by the combination of the U.S. wireless businesses of Bell Atlantic Corp. (NYSE:BEL), Vodafone AirTouch Plc (LSE:VOD; NYSE:VOD), and GTE Corp. (NYSE:GTE). The new company includes the assets of Bell Atlantic Mobile, AirTouch Cellular, GTE Wireless, PrimeCo Personal Communications and AirTouch Paging. The new company has a footprint covering nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population, 49 of the top 50 and 96 of the top 100 U.S. markets.

Verizon Wireless, headquartered in New York City and Bedminster, NJ, is 30,000 employees strong. Reporters and editors can find more information about the company in its Media Center on the Web at: http://www.verizonwireless.com/mediacenter.

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