It's possible to make hundreds, thousands, or even millions of dollars in a few minutes.  It's also possible to lose tons of money in a short time span, however, and this is even more likely to happen when someone's dealing with outdated information.  So from now on, news stories will be streamed on Google Finance as they're published.

A couple of quick notes: okay, so professional stockbrokers and serious day traders tend to use specialized services, not Google Finance or any other free offering.  Also, a slightly odd catch to this update is the fact that news will only be streamed from 8 AM to 5:30 PM ET, meaning Google will be slower to report anything that occurs outside normal trading hours.

Still, up-to-the-minute financial news is a welcome addition, and it sounds like Google Finance continues to be a work in progress.  A post on the Official Google Blog stated, "News can stimulate trades, and trades of one stock can have broad market effects.  Figuring how to organize all of that information and make it useful is crucial - and that's what we're working on."

The post then added, "There is still a long way to go, so stay tuned for more updates."

Yahoo Finance continues to be the far-and-away leader in this field, by the way.

by Doug Caverly - www.webpronews.com