What Will Today Bring? A Trader's Meditation

At the beginning of every day, there is the reflection or meditation---What will today bring? The difference between a monkey and a human is forseeability....and visualizing is what the seasoned investment pro does...it takes imagination...after the imagination, one gets to compare the reality...but the imagination is what the trader and investment pro brings to the equation. On Saturday or Sunday, looking at the events of the coming week is key. These are detailed in Barrons Magazine in the calendar section, one looks at the events and plots what one thinks the week will look like. Is Bernanke going to speak? What job reports or retail sales are scheduled? You need to know. At the end of the week, you can compare what you thought the week would look like and what the reality was. This is important and surprising. Last week for example, ending August 3, 2012, it was speculated by the pundits to be a "Pump and Dump week", or it was a week where during the Mon to Thursday, the EU and the ECB would be making the promises, and then at the end of the week, the jobs report would probably disappoint, and oh yes...the ECB would probably result in nada..nothing...but smoke and mirrors, with the Italians just saying they wanted moral support. In the end, the last part was so, but the rest was a suprise. The market wanted to go higher, and disregarded everything to do so. The jaded news junkies had to just wonder and observe. So....what will next week bring. Visualize it.