There are millions of search results when attempting to look for key news that have an impact on the currencies you are trading. It can be very overwhelming, leaving you flustered about what to read and how to filter through it all. The key is being able to digest it all and know what is going to influence the specific currencies you are trading so that you can make informed, profitable decisions.
The news flow contains fundamentals which are influencing currency fluctuations and trends. Types of fundamental news that would typically be key to stay on top of are; monetary policy commentary (central bank speakers offering guidance on interest rates), political (government unrest or announcements on fiscal measures), and geopolitics (US & North Korean tension), to name a few.
Online news sources
As mentioned, there are tons of sources online that provide news about the markets, however, it is best that you stick to the mainstream sources so as to avoid “fake news”. The reason for this is that with reliable sources, you know there is much more credence in stories that you are reading. It is important that there is accuracy, as this would be helping you make a trading decision, an additional confluence to your technical analysis.
Some of the biggest and most trusted news outlets would be as follows, in no particular order:
- Bloomberg
- Reuters
- Yahoo Finance
- MarketWatch
- Wall Street Journal
All of the above-mentioned sources write excellent daily and weekly summaries of the market and provide a general overview of what has happened, underlying themes, what was or is driving sentiment, and if there is any fundamental reasoning behind this. It will all be detailed, usually in a nice, digestible format.
There can be a lot of terminology used that not everyone will understand, so it is worth doing a simple search in your favorite search engine to gather some further explanation and to deepen your understanding of global events and how they’ll impact the markets.
Live news updates
Fortunately, all the market-moving news is covered 24/7 on air, which you can access from your TV and even stream online. The news channels are usually sufficient, providing you with minute-by-minute around the clock market updates. A few of the notable financial news networks would be:
- CNBC
- Bloomberg TV
- Reuters TV
- Sky News Business Channel
- Fox Business Network
Economic calendar
This is where you will find all the key economic data releases for specific countries and their currencies. It’s always critical to stay in tune with what is coming out and when, as depending on how high of an impact the data has, it will move the respective currency that you may be trading or simply watching.
Most of the economic calendars you find online will allow you to filter to the relevant currencies that you are trading. You should also have the option to isolate just the high-impact data; this way you know the data that is more likely to cause movement to the markets.
They can also allow you to plan ahead, as much of this data will be scheduled well and truly in advance. The calendars can provide a monthly overview of what will be coming out for that particular month and when.
