“Information is the most precious commodity on Wall Street”

“Information is the most precious commodity on Wall Street” is a popular Wall Street saying. “For a change, the little guy has a better chance to be right and it all has to do with that priceless commodity on Wall Street — information” was cited in print in 1968. “Information is the most precious commodity on Wall Street” was cited in print in 1985.
 
It’s not known if the common saying has any particular author.
 
     
Google Books
The Magazine of Wall Street and Business Analyst
Volume 123
1968
Pg. 29:
For a change, the little guy has a better chance to be right and it all has to do with that priceless commodity on Wall Street — information.
   
Google Books
Business Week
Issues 2883-2892
1985
Pg. 1114:
Information is the most precious commodity on Wall Street. And advance information of tomorrow’s merger, tender offer, or sensationally good—or bad—earnings report, offers a short cut to riches that is proving irresistible.
 
2 June 1986, The Oregonian (Portland, OR), pg. A3, col. 5:
The most valuable commodity on Wall Street is information, the saying goes. In recent weeks, a number of people have run into trouble for allegedly using inside information to profit on the stock market. Page D9
 
Google Books
Toward the Year 2000
By Rand V. Araskog; James L. Bikoff, et al.
New York, NY: ITT Corp.
1987
Pg. 152:
And to me and other accountants, and professionals, advance information is the most precious commodity on Wall Street. This information, whether good or bad, offers a short cut to riches that is irresistible.
 
21 September 1987, The Times (Trenton, NJ), pg. B2, col. 5:
Information is the most precious commodity on Wall Street, and traders are constantly receiving huge volumes of information.
   
23 October 1988, Morning Call (Allentown, PA), “True or not, rumors power stock market” by Charles A. Jaffe, pg. D1:
Information is a commodity on Wall Street, traded between the players the way horse tips run from bettor to bettor.
 
Google Books
The Golden Fleece:
Why the stock market costs you money
By Walter Stewart
Toronto, Ont.: McClelland & Stewart
1992
Pg. 174:
Information, the most precious commodity on Wall Street, was traded even more briskly than the bonds, and traded from investment house to investment house.
 
Google Books
Investor Beware!:
How to protect your money from Wall Street’s dirty tricks
B y John Lawrence Allen
New York, NY: J. Wiley & Sons
1993
Pg. 46:
Information.
 
It’s the ultimate commodity on Wall Street.
Pg. 50:
It doesn’t take one very long to understand that information is the ultimate commodity on Wall Street.
 
Google News Archive
20 June 1995, The Blade (Toledo, OH), “NASD plans curb on use of reports” (Dow Jones News Service), pg. 26, col. 3:
NEW YORK - Information has always been the hottest commodity on Wall Street. And in today’s world of electronic trading, getting the hot information seconds ahead of, or seconds after, the competition can be made the difference between making and losing millions.
   
Google Books
The MBA Reality Check:
Make the School You Want, Want You
By Evan Forster and David St. John Thomas
New York, NY: Prentice Hall Press
2010
Pg. ?:
“Well, one thing I’m proud of is that I did something few investment bankers are willing to do: Put the group first by not hoarding information, which I quickly learned is the most coveted commodity on Wall Street.”
     
New York (NY) Times
Thin Line Separates Insider Trading and Research
By ALEX BERENSON
Published: October 19, 2009
The most precious commodity on Wall Street is information, and savvy players will do almost anything for it.
   
Zero Hedge
“We Are Doneski Gorgeous!” - How Bond Trading On Wall Street Really Works
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 01/28/2013 21:09 -0400
(...)
Another direct result is that courtesy of 31 page SEC complaint, the general public will now be aware just how much even very sophisticated traders were being abused as muppets by those who had the information about both sides of the trade. Because at the end of the day, as the old saying goes, the only true commodity on Wall Street is information.