Fundamentals and news

Earnings, valuation ratios, balance sheets, macro data, central banks, the economic calendar and event risk, joined up with the chart.

1. Price and value: what a share really isA share is a small piece of a real business, and its price is what people pay today, which is not always what it is worth.
2. Revenue, profit and earnings per shareRevenue is the money a business brings in, profit is what is left after costs, and EPS is the profit for each share.
3. Results day: expectations versus realityOn results day the price reacts to the surprise, not just to whether the numbers were good or bad.
4. The P/E ratioThe P/E ratio tells you how many years of today's profit you are paying for when you buy a share.
5. More valuation tools: P/B, P/S and dividend yieldDifferent ratios compare the price with different things: what a company owns, what it sells and what it pays out.
6. Debt, cash and cash flowA company with lots of debt and little cash can get into trouble even when it reports a profit.
7. Big-picture numbers: inflation, jobs and growthBig reports on prices, jobs and growth show how healthy an economy is, and markets move when the numbers surprise.
8. Central banks and interest ratesWhen a central bank raises interest rates, borrowing gets more expensive, which usually cools the economy and can move many markets.
9. The economic calendarCheck the calendar before you trade, so a scheduled announcement does not surprise you.
10. Priced in: why good news can drop a priceIf everyone already expects good news, the price has often moved before it arrives.
11. Trading around big eventsBefore a big event, the safest plans are a smaller size or simply waiting.
12. Sectors and the business cycleNot all companies do well at the same time; some shine in a boom and others hold up better in a slowdown.
13. Fundamentals beyond stocksEach market has its own fuel: interest rates for currencies, supply and demand for commodities, and adoption and token supply for crypto.
14. Putting it together: news and chartsUse the news to know what could move the market, and the chart to decide where and when to act.