Reading Newspapers/mags for a course question?

Question

I was advised by my finance professor that as well as studying from textbooks, I should read newspapers like the Financial Times/Wall Street Journal and magazines such as The Economist and also watch a UK nightime show called Newsnight, however he didnt really explain why no matter how many times I asked, he just didnt make sense....cant anyone please explain to me why this is necessary and to what detail or depth I should read these?

Thank You

Answer 1

I read the WSJ every day. They cover a wide variety of issues and editorialize on current political, economic international, and governmental affairs. I would classify their editorial positions to be mostly right of center. Included are articles on both personal finance issues and corporate finance. You can find news on individual companies as well as market sectors. People who read the Journal also have lives outside of the corporate world so you will also find news on real estate, health, technology, personal finance, consumer issues, education, travel, art, books, movies (I never miss their movie reviews), entertainment, mostly in "Personal Journal" during the week and "Pursuits" and "Weekend Journal" on Fri and Sat. You can probably safely skip theater reviews unless you live near New York or other large city.

I have a suggestion of how to approach this newspaper:
First glance at the headlines in the "What's News" column on page 1. If there is a longer article on the subject, the inside page # is given. Certain days of the week are devoted to particular topics. Weekend Journal appears on Fri and "Pursuits" appears in the Sat ed. and contain "fun" topics such as entertainment, books, movies, food, etc.

Also, I would look at the editorial pages for each issue and choose those topics you are interested in. These always appear at the end of section #1.
There are lots of ads and you can safely skip those (unless you enjoy reading about the availability of the latest Bentley automobile or are interested in buying a $3 million dollar condo in Florida!). You can skip the weather map and the stock, bond, and fund lists in "Money & Investing" unless you are interested in a particular stock or fund. Also in this section, look at the summary down the left side of page 1 and choose the articles you want to read.

The Marketplace section includes information on product development and marketing. Pick and choose here to match your interests.

That's about it.

Answer 2

Whatever course you are doing, if you are studying at HE level you should be reading around your subject. This means having a grasp of the current issues and generally what is going on in the world which may have an impact on your studies. You can't have a fully informed understanding of how the world shapes your subject and how your subject shapes the world unless you have a bit of a grasp of current affairs.

You don't have to read the whole paper all the time, but look through and see what stories might connect up with your subject area. It would seem to me that finance is inextricably linked with political and social issues and when you write assignments if you can show a broader understanding than just the issues highlighted you will get better marks.

Answer 3

I presume you're doing some sort of course in finance (or it's at least part of it) and you're studying world finance perhaps. Here's a couple of links to show you the sort of thing I think he'll be expecting you to learn a bit about. If you search around on each site you'll find bits to do with world trade markets etc. Hope this helps.

http://www.ft.com/markets

http://online.wsj.com/public/page/markets.html?mod=1_0021

Answer 4

Basically to keep you in touch with whats going on in the world of finance, you can just skim read them if you dont have time, but all it is to keep you up to date on whats going on in field of study!!

Answer 5

Text books are out of date - for up to date information you need the sources he has given you. Try reading / watvhing and you will find out.