DOUBLE NO. I event consider that the guy is a novice or has never understood the market if he relies on news at least for the whole market, as I said for stocks there can be some special news.
I know there's always lots of little "ifs, ands, or buts" when these types of discussions occur. And, of course, there are times when news is extremely important. However, IN GENERAL, I'll take price action over news MOST ANYTIME.
If you are swing trading equities, absolutely, access to news is important. You ignore it at your peril. If your system picks up that a stock is making a significant move, it will often be based on news, and your decision as to whether or not to enter, or what size to put on, can easily be impacted by your judgement of the news event.
================== Like Vega, recently noted, experienced SPX marketmaker noted traders probably have better acess to news than marketmakers. Do like to know about the companies i trade; not so much news but things like $XAU sector...
LOL no disrespect ...but cnn money IS NOT FUCKING NEWS, LOL. Niether is smartmoney,cnbc, cnnfn, or any of those amture websites.....let alone Briefing, all be it briefing is the better of the online news sources. I do trade off of news and NEW IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME DURING WARNINGS AND EARNING SEASON. ALSO, ECONOMIC DATA is IMPORTANT as well, not all just some. When a trader is serious about news they pay for it. IE: i have a bloombergterminal, but then there is also Thompson Financial, they have a few diffrent platforms you can get, DJI is a good news source as is the Financial Reutres...NOT THE WEBSITE VERSION. So, News is important to some and that some take their news sources serioulsy........however, telling me that you use a online News Source to be informend before you make ur trading decision is a day late and about 1 point short......... ur the last sheep in and the first holding the bag...
When a trader is serious about news they pay for it. makes perfect sense. for me personally, i like to have the blah blah blahing of cnbc in the background just to pick up major updates/announcements. -m.o.