Over the years you will hear a lot of clich's about the market and one of them says "the open is for amateurs and the the close is for Pro's". Well there is some truth to that. For the most part, the first 20 minutes of the trading day is full of wild swings where market makers are filling overnight market orders (where they want to fill them by the way!) while people who are looking at a "gap" opening are trying to get out. So it is indeed an interesting tug of war between people trying to get in and others trying to get their profits out. But in general terms the craziness subsides somewhere before 10:30 am Eastern and then stocks move a bit more realistically. But we often see other things happen that are really interesting and you can almost base them on the clock. Once we get past the 10:30 area, we often see some wild movements right around the 1pm area, and then we also see some volatility at the 3pm area.
Did you ever wonder what was going on at those times? Well as "deep" as you can make it seem, the real answer is that the times coincide with lunch! Don't laugh yet,it's for real. For instance
let's say you work a trading desk at the NYSE. You go out for lunch at about noon and over a roast beef sandwich and a soda, you are talking to "fellow" traders about the overall direction of the day. Is it possible that when you come back to work at 1, you may want to buy some stock if the feeling was good? Is it possible that the lunch period brought a bunch of nervous traders together and they scared you a bit? is it possible you may want to sell some stock when you hit the floor again? Yes, it is and although you may be thinking "it can't be that easy" it certainly is. Watch the market moves at the 1pm time slot and you will indeed see some increased volatility.
The same thing happens at about 2:45 to 3:00 pm. Why? Guess when the west coast traders are going to lunch out there? Right! With a 3 hour time delay, office workers that are just hitting lunch time are flooding to their telephones and computers to make some trades. So sure enough watch the "tape" at that time slot and you will see an increase in activity. As much as television shows everyone trading every second of every day, the fact is that lunch time is the time of the day when most people who want to "do something" actually get the time to do it.
The last half hour of the trading day is indeed where the market pro's are doing their best work. Funds that want to buy generally do it during that time slot and last minute buy/sell imbalances have to get straightened out. If the order flow is positive, we can often see some huge moves in that last 30 minutes. (Likewise if the day has been lousy and they are nervous, they can really accelerate the selling). Remember you can often take your queues about the next day's action from the close of the previous day. If we rally hard into the close, it's probable that we will open strong the next morning. If we tank in the last half hour, you can almost bet the next morning will either gap down, or it will rise for a few minutes and then fall apart. Quite a few traders make their "day trades" based on the last 20 minutes. If we are running into the close, it is a pretty good bet the the leaders will gap up a bit in the morning and you can sell into that gap with a nice little profit.
For most of you who aren't hard core day traders, it would be best to buy your stocks in the "quiet periods" of the day. For instance if you want to buy XYZ, take a look at it during the 10:30 to 11:30 time slot. If its doing well at that time, chances are good it will continue to do so for the day. Likewise, if it is looking good after the 1 PM shake, that too is probably a decent time to get involved. By watching the "moves" the market makes during its trading session, you can often get a much better idea of where things are going by seeing "who's doing what" after the lunch hours! Watch this phenomenon for a few days and see what you think.
April of last year, changes in the laws on hours of operations for truck drivers was implemented. But like any law, affected parties are parted in their opinions about it. While many operators and drivers would want more hours of operation to get more income, others agree with the new law to ensure the safety of the drivers and everyone else on the road.
Before going deeper into their arguments, here's what the law basically enforces every driver to follow. In a 14-hour period, drivers can only drive a maximum of 11 hours. After such time, the driver is required get rest of at least of 10 hours. In addition to that, truck drivers are not allowed to drive more than 60 hours within one week.
To ensure that drivers actually follow this law, they are to keep a daily log of their off time, sleep time, hours of operation and vehicle inspection time. They should keep this log book updated because anytime that they are stopped by an enforcer, they can be asked to present this log book and it can be reviewed by them. If the log book reveals that the driver hasn't rested the number of hours required, he would be made to do so. Until then he wouldn't be able to continue his trip. The driver may also be fined due to this violation.
Another instance when the log book would be asked is when the truck is involved in an accident. If the driver doesn't have it or if he has not religiously updated it, he would be fined whether or not the accident was his fault.
So what's the problem with the law? Well, according to truck company operators with less number of hours their trucks are able to be in the road the fewer loads they are able to deliver. With less volume of work done, this would mean lesser income for their companies. Because of this, they are forced to ask higher fees from customers to maintain income. In the end, it is actually the consumers who will suffer the most since they are ones who will carry the burden of the additional costs of the merchants. On the drivers' part, they say that they feel that they even end up more tired because they are forced to split their sleep with the new rule in place.
Yet, there would be some that say drivers are actually protected by the law from the slave drivers in the industry. Their operators cannot force them to continuously drive without rest. They cannot force a rush delivery on their drivers. These operators cannot just think of making an income but they also have to consider the safety and the well-being of their drivers.
The appeal to reverse the implementation of this law has already reached the Supreme Court but the higher court denied the appeal. It was the judges? belief that this new law would make the truck drivers and the other drivers and passengers safer on the road. With the heart of the law on this, it cannot compromise the well-being of the drivers and the public for the sake of better income and economic reasons.
Both Robs & Matthew A. Barr are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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