I still don't trust the news

Cho Sing Kum
30^th Dec 2002

That week I stayed in a hotel that did not have so many stars as the Shangri-La. In the Shang, I would watch the in-house movies or the other documentaries. But that week, I did not have the same luxury. Sure I could watch Star Sports or ESPN but yachting and football all night, no. For most of the nights, I ended up switching between two popular 24-hours news channels.

I was never a fan of news service but without the benefit of having been fully updated on subscription based financial news channel, I did not know exactly what this article on the turtletrader.com website was all about.

On one of the channel, one of their advertisement slogan was "We watch the market for you." They had their presenters telecast direct from the exchange floor. Well, I must say it gave viewers a positive impression. But positive impression was one thing. Usefulness was another.

There was this episode and it really shocked me. In between interviews and floor broadcasts, the female anchor then presented a chart on a PC that was positioned behind her. She told viewers to look at the chart and then the camera zoomed in. (I couldn't remember the name of the stock but I did remember roughly how the chart looked like. I tried to reproduce one that look about the same below.) She went on to tell viewers that the blue area in the chart showed that fund managers were pulling their money out of this stock.

Well I didn't know what indicator she was using there, she didn't say. But how could an indicator showed that fund managers were doing what she said? I was stunned that this happened. The worst thing was that when people were paying for it, they had a natural tendency to believe.

Unless they could check every single trade that was done in that stock and name the of all the parties and the number of shares each and every single party bought and sold (would the relevant authorities allow this?), how could they come to the conclusion that fund managers were getting out of that stock. Period!  

If I were new to the market, I would grab all I could from that channel. But I have seen the battle-fields, I have my scars, my ears, my eyes are now very selective. I am able to shut them when they are open. I am able to keep them open yet shut them when necessary. Through natural evolution, they now have filters. I am sure those of you who have seen the battle-fields and have your scars too, you will agree.

Unless, if you have not been to enough battles.

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