There's Pope for us yet in the battle against the robots
Back in my pit days it was easier to trade news releases. Trading systems were people vs people not machine vs machine. All traders would be bunched up in the pits watching for the data to hit the pit screens and whoever analysed it first and got the early trade, made the best money
How it used to happen
Nowadays we can't really trade a release. Machines read the headlines and trade quicker than we ever could. We mere humans have to adapt and that's why I look to trade the moves after rather than on a release. Sometimes there's an opportunity where the market hesitates but it doesn't happen often
So today we get a chance to trade on almost a level playing field. Due to the Pope's visit to the States which is causing road closures, public transport delays and tighter security, there's no press lock-ups for the Initial jobless claims, durable goods and new home sales data later. That means the likes of Bloomberg and Reuters won't be writing up the data and their stories an hour before the release and pumping it up in nano seconds. Instead the data will be released via the respective Labour and Commerce dept's websites. It might not rule out the robots entirely as they can read websites too, but it might mean there could be enough delay in the release to catch a trade if you're quick enough
Ok, I might just be romanticising for the old days but just in case, you'd all better hope that Adam's and my typing fingers are up to the task ;-)
