4/20 intra-day notes

Links:
...I've noticed recent news about China vs Japan tensions. I think this could end up having wider economic implications for the world economy, so I wanted to bookmark the following article for future reference. I've been a little unclear as to why there were supposedly spontaneous demonstrations in Chinese cities recently, reputedly going back to war atrocities a half century ago. That sounds a little too convenient, something like those spontaneous demonstrations in Vietnam years ago, when the natives were carrying protest signs written in English (not for the benefit of the U.S. media? Yeah, right.) Anyway, here's the link:
http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/050420/b3930102mz015.html
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http://clearstation.etrade.com/cgi-bin/bbs?post_id=6479278
...The Role of The Specialist. This link is to a message on the COMPX board on ClearStation. The message contains lengthy segments from books by Richard Ney in the 1970s. I've never read the books, but these segments interest me and I may try to find them. A lot of what transpires in the markets daily makes sense if you look at it from a different perspective.
...Someone close to me who trades for a living once told me that he used to get more frustrated when he thought the game was on the up and up. Once he realized that everyone sitting at the table had an ace up one sleeve and a dagger up the other, his world changed. Price movements that had made no sense now were logical.
...Dr. Alexander Elder, in his book Trading For A Living, an excellent book by the way, makes the analogy of trading vs driving a car in civilized society. He says that when you open your car door into traffic, other drivers will try to avoid you, not because they like you, but because the complications from hitting you outweigh the benefits. They may yell at you and make gestures at you, but they will try to avoid you. In the markets, however when you open your door into traffic by making an ill-advised trade, there is a mad rush among the other market participants to see who can get to you first, and hopefully take off your arm along with the door. True enough, from my experience.
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Quote of the day:
"We are getting slower growth and higher inflation numbers. The Fed is caught," said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York. "The Fed would like to keep interest rates low to keep the economy moving but on the other hand they have to fight against inflation."
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D89J7CG00.htm?campaign_id=ap_news_up
Above is the link to the entire article on Business Week online.
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