There are one or two monthly numbers that are "subscriber". However, these guys only get the # a few seconds before Bloomberg, Dow Jones, Reuters, etc. Yes, a few seconds is an eternity in this business...but most of the time the real market reaction doesn't happen until the news hits the major services. Volume
I disagree. There's a lot of money to be made on moves like on today's sentiment number. People make livings scalping nickels and dimes all day with taking less risk. And what do you mean that smart money will always know before the news? Next thing you'll tell me that they know what Greenspan is going to report at the FOMC meeting in 2 weeks. I don't know if you're aware but smart money has lost money in the last two years. If they know so much, then how come they aren't making triple digit returns every month? :eek:
Trading on news is a real pain. If the news comes out before the market opens you have to judge how much gap you are willing to eat, and that has to be based on the news and some fundamentals, not real simple to decide. Some trade the pullback for a few pennies. If the news comes out during the market I have seen where you have about 10 seconds to decide, I would say a lot of traders probably take a wild guess based on the headline, buy the thing and then decide if it's worth it or not. Occasionally, on an illiquid issue that nobody is interested in you may have a couple of minutes and you can make some serious percentage gains but on a very small amount of money. Max
Another way to go is to use Newswatch at mytrack. You can set up folios and only get the news on those issues, you can write very complex filters and look for keywords and phrases. Trading off of it is still a real pain IMO, fascinating and educational but a pain. Dow jones News tends to be rebroadcasts of stuff that come out as press releases from PRNewswire or Businesswire. Occasionally a blockbuster story comes out first on Dow Jones News and those stories are what makes the DJN worth it. Max
I once looked into receiving the Mich Sent #. The university claims that they only release the number to subscribers on a conference call. One can subscribe for $4650 per year. After much thought, I realized that there would have to be a huge difference between the actual vs estimated number to have a big enough edge, and since this number is released only twice a month, I decided that it's probably not worthwhile.
Michigan Sentiment is a survey of 500 households. That's it. The survey is not worth the paper it is printed on. If you are trading securities or equities, upon its release, you pick a level and fade the initial move for a quick scalp.