How to read a briefing
The briefing is ordered by what needs you. Each item gives the number, the reason if we have one, a next step and the source.
2 min read
Open the BriefingOn this page4 sections
The briefing is built from the same data as the rest of the product and covers the latest market day we hold. Signed out, it is a market view: the indices and the day's largest movers. Signed in with names on your account, it is about those names.
The top of the page
- The summary line. One sentence assembled from the items below it. It is put together from the items, so it cannot say something the items do not.
- Your day. If your holdings have sizes, we show what they did today in dollars and percent. It also says how many holdings could be counted, for example 7 of 9, because a holding without a size or a price cannot be added up.
- A stale note. If the freshest data is from an earlier session than today, the page says so at the top.
The four parts
| Part | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Needs you | Things that may call for a decision: a large move in a holding, a changed call, a stock that entered its add or trim zone, an alert that fired, earnings very close. |
| Worth knowing | Smaller updates on your names: news, a disclosed trade by a member of Congress, a filing, a spike in discussion. |
| Coming up | Earnings and other dated events in the next seven days, soonest first. |
| Quiet | The names where nothing happened, listed so you know they were checked. |
Anatomy of one item
- Headline with the number. What happened and by how much.
- Why it matters. One or two plain sentences. For a holding it also says how large the position is on your account.
- The reason, or the lack of one. When a move has a confirmed reason we give it with the source. When it does not, the item shows the move and its next step, with no reason line. See Reasons for a move.
- A next step. Something to read or check. It is never an instruction to buy or sell.
- Evidence. Each line names who it comes from and the date or time it refers to, with a link when there is one.
What to do with an item
Mark it Got it to clear it, or Keep watching to hold it in its own list. Either way the item is kept, not deleted. See Got it, keep watching and history.
Read next
- Needs you, worth knowing, coming up, quietHow an item lands in each part of the briefing, and why the quiet list is there at all.
- When we give a reason for a moveA price move gets a reason only when research found one in dated sources. Otherwise the move shows with its number and no reason line.
- Got it, keep watching and historyWhat the two buttons on an item do, what is saved, and how far back you can look.
Something here wrong or unclear? Tell us. Informational only, not investment advice.