AI firm to use machine-learning programs to decipher corporate earnings announcements

SYDNEY – After applying his machine-learning programs to central bank policy statements to churn out trading calls, a hedge fund-backed political economy specialist is aiming his sights on corporate earnings announcements. Evan Schnidman, a 31-year-old who set up his own firm after a Harvard University Ph.D. dissertation that looked at the Federal Reserve's communications, is hoping the approach that lured $3.3 million in a fundraising round last December will work in the corporate sphere. St. Louis-based Prattle has until now focused on applying the artificial intelligence method known as natural-language processing to make assessments of Fed and other central bank policy statements. At a time when analysis is poised to get its own price tag, with the introduction of Europe's MiFID II regulations, research costs are an increasing focus for investment banks and asset managers. BlackRock Inc. has even moved to use robots to design funds.