I believe the idea behind reporting the numbers before the open or AH was that everyone had a chance to digest the report for the next opening hours. It made sense when not too many people traded AH. Now I believe things are different. Many times the volume AH when a report comes out is more than the daily volume. I believe it makes sense to halt the stock for half an hour so everyone can read the report and then can decide on the price. Most of the times when I trade a stock that its report is out is not because I read or know the results, I just follow the crowd and sometimes the stock changes its direction after it goes in one way for a few minutes. It is because no one really cares about the results. It is really like a sheep leading a herd.
No fucking way. There should NEVER be halts in today's market. Let the guys who can read and react to news profit. Halts just allow big money to manipulate prices to their best interest.
Earnings reports should be released during regular market hours, just like the FOMC announcements. That way, you don't stretch out the trading day unnecessarily and you keep the trading activity concentrated into the normal business day.
Stock should never be halted, it gives a chance to everyone to react. Sorry this is not school, if you need time to read the report , stay in academics or become a high paid analyst that get it wrong 80% of the time. Trading halts should be banned , they make the stockmarket a farce, I remember some trading halts in RIMM for example and others with reopens that bordered on insanity . Personally that's one of the reasons I do not trade stocks because this market has no credibility,on a stock level it's mostly a Ponzi that profits the insiders. Interesting idea to move earnings announcements to RTH, it would probably reduce the volatility , AH trading is too thin, it leads to ridiculous moves that when up tend to continue the next day when down tend to be reduced. IMO it's to the advantage of companies, it allows them to pump up their stock price.