AG Kokott: publication of a ‘market rumour’ by a journalist can be considered an unlawful disclosure of ‘inside information’ under certain circumstances

In her Opinion AG Kokott advised that the Court of Justice rule that Article 1(1) of the Market Abuse Directive, read in conjunction with the second alternative in Article 1(1) of the Market Manipulation Directive, means that information from the author of a press article about the forthcoming publication of that article, the subject matter of which is a market rumour about a company takeover, can be considered as ‘inside information’ if the subject matter of the article in its published form is sufficiently specific to draw the conclusion that there might be an effect on the prices of one or more financial instruments. Vide the opinion of advocate general Kokott:

https://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=7F6D0C7B674AC2967B9497CAFE29845D?text=&docid=246103&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=910172