Unofficial corporate earnings estimates that are “whispered” among analysts and their favored investors who have private information that they had been told by the company. If the earnings per share amount is below the whisper number, but above the consensus estimate, the stock sells off, which creates volatility. However, since the Securities and Exchange Commission passed Regulation Fair Disclosure in 2000, companies are not supposed to selectively disclose material information to clients or other investors. That rule, along with the bear market that followed the Internet boom in the late 1990s, has restricted the occurrence of whisper numbers.