“The media won’t help you trade or understand the markets”.

“Take what you hear/see in the media about the markets with a MASSIVE grain of salt.

This week has really brought that point back home to me……

The idea that stocks rallied last week and into the start of this week on assumption of an Obama win was a joke. And by extension, the idea of a buy the rumor sell the fact situation explaining Wednesday’s turn lower is a farce as well.”

I agree with him that often  the supposed news drivers which people think are creating the short-term moves in the market are mostly coincidental.

Data and news events  have just a short-term impact, which is often just an expectation play, a lot of noise.

John concluded: “But to return to and reinforce my initial point, use the media for information, but ignore the reasons they provide to explain market action. More often than not they will be useless.”

HOWEVER, To be fair to the media, I wish to add that TV stations  do  invite traders of repute  regularly to voice their takes with technical analysis which in a way complements their fundamental views.

Sharanjit Leyl with Ray Barros on BBC -Asia Business News Dec 2 08