Baton Rouge paper cuts stock listings, adds standalone section

The Baton Rouge Advocate announced in Saturday’s paper that it will start running a standalone business section every day during the week, but will also be cutting its stock and mutual fund listings.

Bob Lamb wrote, “The Business section will be, as it is now, a minimum of six pages, redesigned to include sharper color photos and new color graphics and features to help readers analyze daily local and corporate news, economic reports and stock market results.

“To date, The Advocate has dedicated two pages to business news articles; three pages to stock and commodities tables; and one to mutual fund listings.

“That will change.

“Under the redesign, at least three pages will include business news:

• New to the front page of the Business section on Tuesday-Friday will be a feature at the bottom called “Today,â€? which clues readers to key events, economic reports and companies that could influence the stock market when it opens each day. On Saturday, “Next Weekâ€? will look ahead to likely market-changing events.
• Two inside pages also will contain business articles. Three pages — rather than four — will be dedicated to financial information and tables:
• On one page will be a story analyzing the previous day’s stock market, accompanied by a new segment, “Story Stocks.â€? These features, complete with graphics, identify companies that were major newsmakers influencing the stock market the previous day.

“The features will replace the ‘most-active’ list in the stock tables. Research shows the most-active list changes very little from day-to-day and is often filled with little-known, small-cap stocks that are subject to speculative trading.”

Read more here.