Online Brokers 2000: Investors Want Research, but Will Regulators Let Them Have It?

Online investors may be do-it-yourselfers when it comes to picking stocks, but they still want investment research. This is especially true for the more conservative among TheStreet.com's readers.

Fully three-quarters of those who identified themselves as buy-and-hold types in TheStreet.com's Online Broker Survey 2000 said that such research was "vital" or "important." (Daytraders, by contrast, expressed much less of a need for research: Only a third rated online research "vital" or "important.")

Online Broker Survey 2000 In Today's Package Taking the After-Hours Plunge Why Getting Research Isn't So Easy Calendar of Stories Message Boards

But there's a reason why online investors may not be getting everything they want in this regard. Regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, have been looking into just how online brokers dispense research. Their worry: that research may not be appropriate for all clients and that what is offered as research will be interpreted by some customers as actual recommendations. ...