okay, i see what you're saying; the technicalz on the indices. i was thinking about the analysts' up/ downgrades, the moment they are announced, u know? i am a relative neophyte and have just been paper trading on zax contest site. so far i've yet to subscribe to a premium service, with the exception of pcinvestors charts; but even that is delayed, and the rtt wireservice seems to be very promising, once i hook up with their premium service, which is only 14bux or so. so i am a tyro at this, working with inferior toolz, but i am much impressed with rtt's service which, even with the delayed info, and a glance at pcinvestorz chartz, has helped my trading at zax significantly. is bloombergz info free? seems i've learned so much in the past few months, and had i been real time trading from the get-go, i would've lost my proverbial ass. at this point i am trying to organize some sort of strategy, and get the proper toolz. i like very much the idea of trading the news, although earningz newz seemz a bit trickier ...probably due to the interpretation of forward guidance. so i thought that i'd hit the rosetta stone (the one i've since learned doesn't exist) with the upgrade/ downgrade deal. then too, i am thinking of getting nadaqz total view; are u familiar with this? even rtt's service shows the trades, and this has got to be helplful. e.g., one time they had a bit of good news on a company, and i was thinking of playing it, but when i looked at the trades (again, 15 minutes delayed) there was more selling than buying, and sure enuff the stock tanked. all i can do at this point, after surfing thousandz of trading sites, is quote george soros: "no one has any answers, but there sure is a hell of a lot of information." lol, thanx again for ur insightz.