Reports from banks like RBC and Jefferies seem to move the market. Is there a place to get it first hand other than being a customers to these banks?
these "reports" are marketing material. They are written by fresh graduates, outsourced, or completely automated.
Customers first - partners second and many of the discount brokers are partners and have relationships (so check with you broker) and services after. Services like Bloomberg, Thompson and The WSJ get them well after the market has seen them. Research is a trade for execution so there would be little point in not exposing them to customers first. Services like Argus and Ned Davis are a bit behind, but they are big sellers in the brokerage community. Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, UBS and others are partners with the brokerage community and their stuff goes out a tad after customer release. The delay is frequently compliance related and not an intentional delay - but a delay none the less. Good research brings in a ton of business - even for brokerage customers it always seems like institutional see the research first and retail gets it by the time the institutional customers have moved the market
Don't full service broker web portals provide analyst reports from multiple sources usually? What if one were to deposit the minimum required just to keep the account open in order to access those reports? hrmm
They're going to provide in-house. Not the competition and usually retail get's it a bit later than institutional. Often institutional clients will be on the call with the analyst when he updates. If you can find a retail platform that let's you park their for the research - go for it.