Reuters Group to Offer Live Stock Quotes

Reuters Group, the world’s largest financial information provider, introduced a new set of products to deliver live stock exchange quotations and news via the Internet as it seeks to reach more customers and cut costs. The Reuters Inform products will initially offer market prices, news and other information to traders, utilities, farmers and others interested in agriculture and the commodities and energy markets. The company, which already provides some delayed price and information services online, declined to say how much it has spent on developing the real-time product. Growth in sales of London-based Reuters’ terminals to the financial services industry, its biggest source of income, has slowed as clients merged, cut costs and closed offices in weaker markets. Reuters has responded by finding ways to deliver its products to a wider range of users at a lower cost through the Internet. The first services, for the North American power markets and the global agriculture markets, will cost $225 a month and $175 a month, respectively, a company official said. Customers can pay an additional $25 a month for a 90-day news archive. Reuters Group’s American depositary receipts fell $1.50 to close at $69.56 on Nasdaq.