From Courtesy of Chang on Reading Market Direction

Here we go. Thanks to Chang for the article below :-)

We can have some clues on the market behavior based on the following

1) Holiday - US and Japan Holiday : Since all of us is trading US option
We need to know when is the key holiday. The reason is simple. The market will close and equity trading is not possible. E.g. Japan Holiday let said fall on a Monday , Monday Night US market will be quiet. During a quiet day the range of the market will be low. Movememt < 50 piont of DJI [ Just estimation }. Why Japan is important is because it is the 2nd largest equity market in the world.

2) Key Announcement - e.g. Non-Farm Payroll, you will notice around the whole equity prior to Friday, e.g. Wed , Thur most equity market around the world hardly move. Including S&P500 and Dow Jones. The reason is simple. Everyone does not know what is the actual figure will be, so all of them are careful. The Figure can be interpreted into 2 possibilities. One BAD, Below expectation, DJI Market down > 100 point and if later on the analyst feel or think that will not increase interest rate. BAD expectation become a Good news. Look at Dollar index , Japan Yen and US major equity and Future market index for clue. Likewise, a Good expectation, e.g. more people are working as compare to previous month. Market will fall, why ? All Trader and fund manager will think or conclude FED may raise Interest Rate.

3) Moon Phases - 1st 14 day ( new moon ) Human are more will to buy stock. They become less risk averse. { Like just try and buy to make some money from the Market } And during Full moon, human emotion is some how affected and they become caution. If you have position since day 2 - 3 of the 1st 14 day of the moon. What will you do ? If your holding is making money and good profit ? Sell correct ?

4) Corporate Announcement - Quarterly result, I can only see this will only affect that sector e.g. GS announce result if it is way below expectation it will affect the entire Financial Sector. If impact is large enough, then it will affect all the major equity indices.
One thing to note: Some of the large US bank, their securities in not only listed on NYSE. They are also listed on Frankfurt and London and may in Hong Kong too.

5) Sector Rotation - Our project we did cover this.

6) Key Future / Cash Market to note: Asia Hour - Japan NK225, Hong Kong Hang Seng Indice. And also Shanghai Index too. You need to keep track of S&P500 Future for all days. Use this website
http://www.liveindices.com/ -> During the afternoon and up to midnight 12:30 am. Look at the DAX index ( cash or Future ). Dax is 3rd largest index in the world. And lastly, SP500 , DJI during US trading hour.