Hey friend,
The weekly jobless claims came in at 200,000 – above last week but below expectations.
We also got the U.S. productivity data for Q1.
It showed a 0.8% growth, below both last quarter and below consensus expectations. Could the effect of AI on productivity be overhyped?
Let’s see how markets have been moving.
The Daily Direction
Note: Indexes closed higher yesterday and opened higher this morning too – though their movements have been mixed throughout the day. No change in any index directions.
The Daily Nugget
Almost everything in trading comes down to psychology.
There’s your own psychology – managing your emotions, and avoiding common traps.
Then there’s market psychology…
Which influences what the masses are thinking about value, trend, and countless other factors…
And ultimately leads to price – the aggregate consensus of all market participants’ psychology.
Even when we study things like price action…
It still comes down to psychology.
The charts allow us to get a “read” on market psychology so we can better make our next move.
That’s why when you watch someone like Ross Givens break down the charts – talking about buyers getting shaken out, profit taking, and such…
It’s all really an interpretation of market psychology, especially the incentives of the various participants.
And speaking of incentives…
There’s one group of market participants especially worth paying attention to – the corporate insiders.
CEOs, CFOs, directors – the people closest to the actual business.
When they buy shares of their own company with their own money, it’s a meaningful signal.
Because they usually know far more about the company’s real prospects than outside analysts, journalists, or retail traders ever could.
And if trading is ultimately about understanding psychology and incentives…
Then insider buying gives you a rare look at what the people closest to the business are doing when their own money is on the line.
Ross will share more on that tomorrow morning.
Keep an eye on your inbox for that.
The Traders Agency Team
