The debt ceiling debacle and government shutdown have affected our normal trading operations in several ways. I’ve been a stock index trader since the early 1990’s when I began working and trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The news cycle lasted at least 24 hours before newspapers and television morning shows would revise or alter the political landscape and issues of the day that may affect market behavior. Furthermore, the U.S. financial markets closed for business at 4:15pm and didn’t re-open until the following morning. This forced all of the market participants into a, “time out.” Finally, this allowed the markets’ participants to digest the day’s events and adjust their trading plans accordingly.

Fast forward to 2013 and the news cycle is delivered 140 characters at a time by anyone who thinks they may have something newsworthy to say. This all noise, no signal news environment is then transmitted via … Read More

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