The gold market has recently been a closer follower of the general daily price movements in the raw commodity sector.

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According to Mr Whitcomb, avoiding odd sixteenths is nonetheless a symptom of something quite worrying: that there are in effect two Nasdaq markets, one centred on the electronic systems, in which best prices are set, and the dealer market, which is a price follower.

ECONOMIST: Collusion in the stockmarket

The problem, however, was that Hewlett-Packard was a follower rather than a leader in this market, going against Apple that enjoyed the first-mover advantage in this market.

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This behavior meant that by the time a rival firm proved that a new market was viable, Motorola would be two years behind the competition and forever a distant follower.

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