| I love investing, and I love just about everything about | | | | steady throughout the day. |
| the stock market in particular. But I find that many | | | | Next you may want to watch the activity on the |
| people get confused and don't really know what to | | | | Over-The-Counter market, which is a market of thinly |
| watch for when it comes to paying attention to the | | | | traded very small companies. If it outpaces the general |
| stock market. | | | | stock market, that might be a sign of a BULL market. |
| Sure, if you flip on the news in the evening they will | | | | Likewise if its volume is much less than the broad |
| probably tell you what the Dow Jones Industrial | | | | market, that might indicate a Bear market. |
| Average did for the day, whether it was up or down, | | | | Also you should keep an eye out on the old Quotron |
| but that doesn't really give you the overall view of how | | | | change because it measures the daily percent change |
| the market is doing on any given day. | | | | for all the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange |
| In this article I want to spend a few minutes discussing | | | | with it's QCHA index and all shares on the American |
| several other things you should keep your eye on | | | | Stock Exchange with its QACH index. Many mutual |
| besides the Dow Jones index that will give you a | | | | funds pay especial attention to this index, even more |
| broader picture of exactly what the market has been | | | | so than they do to the Dow Jones index. |
| up to on any given day. | | | | And of course you are going to want to keep an eye |
| So the first thing to watch besides the DOW is the | | | | or two on the general financial news of the day. There |
| S&P 500. It is an index fund made up of 500 of | | | | are many ways to do this, but my favorite is to read |
| the best stocks as chosen by the good folks over at | | | | both the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times |
| Standard and Poors. When people say the "Stock | | | | Newspapers every day. The Financial Times is a |
| Market" many times they are referring to the S&P | | | | newspaper out of London, but they deliver daily to |
| 500. It's a fairly good indicator of what the market is | | | | most major cities in America and daily or every other |
| doing on the whole. Also, most evening news shows | | | | day via postal mail outside of most major cities. |
| and radio news spots will mention this index each night. | | | | Both these papers are excellent sources for staying |
| Next you should pay attention to the TRIN, which is the | | | | up to date in all the financial news of the day. I'm sure |
| trading index, because it attempts to measure the | | | | with the advent of the Internet there are even better |
| volume of trading that was done on any given day. If | | | | ways to keep current on financial news, but for me I |
| the TRIN goes from above 1.20 to below.70 during any | | | | like my daily routine of reading the old fashioned |
| day, that usually means that the stock market has | | | | newspapers! |
| turned Bullish. On the other hand, if the TRIN goes from | | | | So there you have it, several things to watch each |
| below.70 up to 1.2 then the market has turned Bearish. | | | | day to keep abreast of the stock market and stay |
| A TRIN of 1.0 means that the market was mostly | | | | informed to protect your investments. |