Aaron, To be quite honest, I guess it only helps my trading tangentially. I traded for a long time without it which was fine. Since I primarily swing trade stocks, it gives me an idea of where people's emotions are running (where deals are happening, etc). E.g., I got a call from a friend at a hedge fund about one particular merger that the market thought was going to be blocked, and had discounted. As we discussed, it didn't make any sense to us that DOJ would block it b/c we felt the acquirer would shed the anti-competitive business units in question. Thus, I put on an options trade to capitalize on that situation. Two days later, "Heard on the Street" ran a piece to the same effect. The market still did not discount it. Since this seemed to confirm my suspicions and the trade was moving in my favor, I leaned on the trade a bit more. Of course, you always have to ask yourself if the news is priced in...in this case it wasn't and the market wasn't paying attention. A few days later, DOJ settled and the target took off. That's one example where I found it useful... I specifically like WSJ.com because it is a low-priced alternative to getting the physical paper, and it gives you "special features" which are sometimes interesting. Also like reading some of the pieces in Barrons. IBD is a totally different kind of paper. I would subscribe if it was lower priced, but would use it solely to get a gauge on what the momentum crowd was focused on. However, I can do that much less expensively by running high RS scans. For me, those are great trades to catch both ways b/c those managers are so jumpy - getting in and out. Lastly, my WSJ.com sub gives me something to do in the middle of the day . Probably more than you wanted to know....
Good question, with no easy answer. Without debating the many merits of each, I'll just say this. I've taken both, and if your looking at one just getting one or the other the WSJ crushes IBD as far as pure content goes. If you read that premarket your going to have a better sense IMO of what happend afterhours yesterday/overseas the night before, and what "might" playout in the days session because sometimes the WSJ will give you some insight into which way it seems like the the street is leaning. IBD has some stuff that appeals to traders with the "where the big money is flowing" type tables and stuff, but most of wallstreet still reads the WSJ, and because they are partnered with CNBC you get the carry over effect there as well. I have had the same delima and took both for a full year, what I did was read the WSJ before the open, and I would use IBD for more swing type ideas when I read it after the close. Don't know if that helps ya though. I will say this if you start trying to plow through both....well it takes a long time to get through both of them. I finally abandoned IBD for the WSJ. One thing you might consider is WSJ premarket read and I believe that IBD launced a weekly recently. I don't know if it is similar to barrons or what exactly but IBD does give you a heads up particularly on small cap stocks. (I don't know that you will be able to hold overnight, but there has been a lot of opportunity there recently with the small caps). Someone here could comment on that (the IBD weekly). Cheers.
Actually, going back to the original question...I fully agree with the posters here that say that you should just watch the market. To be honest, if you are trading lots of stocks, just scrolling through several hundred charts an evening, will give you a much better feel for the market than reading any paper. If you are only trading one or two stocks, then looking at the market, the sector that those stocks belong to, and keeping abreast of the companies' news etc will probably be all that you'll need. Getting the paper should be secondary or tertiary to focusing on price, market, and industry action...the paper may just add another layer of context, but remember its how the market reacts to the news, and not the news itself which is important...
i agree with avalanche; when i want a good read that is business oriented, i'll read the WSJ; i have a good deal of experience and contacts in the sports and music worlds, and their articles in both fields have been exceptional. they couldn't make you money, but were consistently outstanding. if you want to use something for longer-term trading, IBD is much better...but i think the basic tools for screening (ie. IBD stocks) are available online, and i know that some of the stocks that are mentioned on their breaking out list experience large gaps the next day, which are fadable. for newbies, i'd recommend reading IBD because you can see how charts break out, what happens to active stocks, etc. and learn from there. but that's not what you're asking...
WSJ.com $6.95/month. Paper is dead. More informative than helpful in trading. It's a good way to see where opinion is going in the market and what the big picture is. FT.com is also good. Heard on the street is good Column is good. (most of the times) Ahead of the tape - eisinger is not bad either. IBD is great used to be subscribe, I should start up. But the stock scans and such have been replaced by TC2000 so it would be just for the articles. Buy O'neills book also. Try out IBD I think they have like a 2 week free trial or something.
Some years ago I had a mynah bird that definitely favored WSJ. To my knowledge he had never traded, but he was an expert on flow.
If I only read one thing it would be WSJ! Second would be FT and finally (even though I love it) is IBD. I also think Bloomberg radio is great in the morning and offers more up to the minute info. I usually listen from 7:30-9am.